In partnership with the Maine Memory Network Maine Memory Network

Maine History Online

Maine History Online

A Maine Historical Society Website

Header Graphic

Herman Cassens and Real Photo Postcards

R. Herman Cassens, Belfast, ca. 1920

R. Herman Cassens, Belfast, ca. 1920

Item 25833 info
Penobscot Marine Museum

In 1909, R. Herman Cassens, a young entrepreneur, started a postcard company, the Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company, in Belfast.

Cassens saw a niche between personal/amateur postcards and the mass-produced postcards available in the bigger cities.

He had a dream of "Photographing the Transcontinental Trail-Maine to California" focusing on small rural towns and villages.