R.F.D. Route 4 mail wagon at a farmhouse, Bloomfield, Nebraska — “C.S. Lovejoy. R 4. Bloomfield Neb” in the negative

A two-horse mail wagon stands before a vine-draped frame house with a cross-gabled roof and rear ell. A woman, a boy with a dog, and a man in a cap stand near the team. The wagon box is lettered “MAIL” above “R 4.”

An inscription in white along the lower image edge reads “C.S. Lovejoy. R 4. Bloomfield Neb,” placing the scene at Bloomfield, Nebraska, and recording the name as written. No photographer or publisher credit appears on the card.

The divided back is printed “POST CARD,” “CORRESPONDENCE HERE” and “NAME AND ADDRESS HERE.” Addressed to Mrs. Chas. Ives, Bainbridge, New York, with an R.F.D. notation, the card bears a green one-cent Franklin stamp and a partially legible Bloomfield, Nebraska postmark. The handwritten letter is dated September 1, 1909. Signed “Mae,” it is a farm letter: rain that morning, hitching up the pony to go to town, sweet corn, tomatoes and “all kinds of vegetables right along,” worms so bad on the cabbage that the crop would be short, the promise of “a good crop of most every thing,” and an invitation to come over — “We have plenty of chickens.” The postmark date itself is only partly legible.

A later pencil note above the address reads “RT 4 / RFD MAIL CARRIER”; it is separate from the original recipient address. The front caption names C. S. Lovejoy and Bloomfield Route 4, while the wagon itself is lettered “MAIL / R 4.” The caption does not name the woman or boy or establish their relationship to the man.