Gift Card (big)

Colored picture postcards first made their appearance in the Philippines in the late 1890s. They were part of a postcard fad that swept the world at that time, brought on by easily portable cameras, cheap postal rates, and the beginnings of international tourism. Photographers took black and white pictures of the Philippines' most famous landmarks, beautiful and exotic sights and transformed these images into color postcards by applying hand-made lithographic plates for the color.

This phenomenon coincided with the arrival of thousands of American military personnel and colonial administrators in the Philippines in 1898. The new arrivals were a ready market for Philippine postcards as they were eager to show the folks back home in America what the Philippines looked like.

These postcards, printed in Manila, the United States, Britain, and Germany made their way not only to the U.S. but also to other countries in Asia and Europe and introduced the Philippines to the world. Some were even mailed from other countries. The images in these note cards are reproductions from the vintage postcard collection found in the Ortigas Foundation Library.

Gift cards with envelopes.