N·X·S (Nichols Expert School), Best Business School in America, Saint Paul, Minnesota, ca. 1910

With its illustration of a three-story tall man standing in a normal-sized street, this postcard reminds me of the tall-tale and exaggeration postcards that were popular in the early twentieth century. Those cards, however, typically featured gigantic ears of corn and humongous fish rather than mammoth men.

Bonnie Wilson describes this postcard in her book Minnesota in the Mail: A Postcard History (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004):

"The giant man pointing proudly to the Nichols Expert School on Sixth and Wabasha in St. Paul is founder Malcolm Emery Nichols. In 1906 the school moved into its new ten-thousand-square-foot space filled with custom-designed furniture where it offered courses in all skills needed to be a first-class secretary or court reporter. . . . The school operated in this location until 1940, when Mr. Nichols retired."

My copy of the card is unused with no postmark, but Wilson dates it to 1910.

For other early postcards that used illustrations of giant people in normal surroundings as advertisements, see Miss Clara Wagner with Her Motorcycle at Coenties Slip, New York and J. C. Ferguson Using a Morrow Coaster Brake at the Hotel Astor, New York.

N·X·S, Best Business School in America

"The Way of Light," Sixth and Wabasha, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Building signs:
Nichols Expert School
NXS Nichols School
Howard-Farwell Pianos

Printed on the other side (made to appear like handwriting):
The N·X·S sells its catalog for 10 cents and redeems it for a dollar. I like its slogan -- Business from start to finish.

Postcard publisher (listed on verso):
Pub. by R. Steinman & Co., St. Paul, Minn. No. 11313.

Taken on: November 12, 2021

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