As the 19th century drew to a close, the Wright brothers were working on their
future flying craft. The Wright brothers had a vision that would take man into the
dimensional atmosphere of the future. With the beginnings of the 20th century most
people thought of flying as a stunt or as a sport while others saw the possibilities
that airplanes would eventually cross the continents and the oceans linking Planet
Earth together.
On December 16, 1907 the US Navy left Hampton Roads, Virginia and began a
diplomatic cruise round-the-world. People began to think globally. People increased
their travel outside the boundaries of their countries. People began to use the mails
to correspond with family and friends all over the world.
Louis Rodrigues Wyllie, born on October 4, 1883 began writing articles in the
Milwaukee WI "Globe Trotter" journal about the peoples of the world, their cultures
and of adventurous people who traveled the globe to see and understand others. Wyllie
became a correspondent for the National Geographic Society in Washington DC and the
Cosmopolitan Correspondence Club in Milwaukee WI. The Cosmopolitan Correspondence
Club with a membership of over 6,000 individuals throughout the world began sending
postcards to each other demonstrating that postal mail might transverse around-the-world
as a precursor for people's travels round-the-world. I am now making the distinction
between the phrases, round-the-world and around-the world. Round-the-world means
actually circumnavigating our earth while Around-the-world means visiting arbitrary
destinations on our earth without complete circumnavigation.
The Cosmopolitan Correspondence Club postcard pictured above was directed
around-the-world visiting seven of its members (3428-3803-4183-4480-4454-3607-3683)
beginning on March 1, 1908 and ending it's around-the-world trip on August 24, 1908.
Itinerary (1908 postcard)
Departed Mexico March 1, 1908
United States March 10, 1908
Canada March 12, 1908
Cuba March 30, 1908
Uruguay May 19, 1908
Argentina July 21, 1908
Chile August 15, 1908
Arrived Mexico August 24, 1908
The Cosmopolitan Correspondence Club postcard pictured above was directed
around-the-world visiting six of its members (4916-4845-4584-5719-4511-2248) beginning
on August 21, 1913 on its around-the-world journey.
Itinerary (1913 postcard)
Departed Hungary August 21, 1913
Austria
Germany
Russia
Japan
United States
Arrived Hungary