Key details which assisted me in dating this postcard are highlighted.

This street view postcard depicting Main Street, Pitlochry is a part of the “Best Of All” series published by J.B. White. This series “first appeared in 1926 and continued to be used on their cards until 1966” (Blaven, 2017). The rectangular shield with a rounded bottom surrounding the “Best Of All” lettering indicates that the postcard was made between 1931-1944 (White, 1994). There is little information regarding the theme of the series. Although, upon inspection of other postcards in the series, most of the series appears to be comprised of scenic photographs. A large portion of this series involved photos taken by a photographer known as Richard Arthur (RA) Rayner (Stubbs, 2007). Surprisingly, this postcard is one of the few of the “Best Of All” series not taken by Rayner. This conclusion can be deduced from the fact that Rayner was never noted to photograph Pitlochry and his photos often had two children in them (Stubbs, 2007). I also found a list of Rayner’s postcards made from a photographic organization in Edinburgh and my postcard is not listed under Rayner’s photos (Edinphoto, 2019). Thus, the photographer of this photo is unknown to me.

Above is an example of an R.A Rayner postcard in the Best Of All Series.

“Judges Postcards Ltd”, the present-day company which bought J.B. White, defines this postcard as ‘20th-century nostalgic’ (Judges, 2014). However, back when it was created, this postcard served a purpose and would not have been defined as a nostalgic item. This postcard might have been sent from an individual to friends or family to share that they were staying in Pitlochry. Pitlochry was known for its abundance of hotels and shopping centres as well as its proximity to the River Tummel (Pitlochry, 2019). In fact, Pitlochry was the only place to cross the River Tummel by ferry at the time (Pitlochry, 2019). Due to the popularity of golf, Pitlochry was also well known for its large golf course (Pitlochry, 2019). Sending someone a postcard from Main Street, Pitlochry conveyed a message of wealth and status as Main Street was the major street of a big shopping district.