With Thanksgiving just two days away, I thought I’d post a little something about Turkey’s since they are the food of choice on Thanksgiving day.

Today most of us go to the supermarket, and grab a Turkey from the meat counter without giving much thought to the bird we are about to consume. The reality is in the last 70 years the poultry industry has changed dramatically. At the end of the 1940’s Turkey breeding intensified in the United States with a focus on birds that produced more white meat. This was done to meet growing demand and produce turkey’s that had a consistent flavor and yield. As a result, the predominant breed sold in markets today is the Broad Breasted White whose light to dark ratio is 65% white meat to 45% dark. Broad Breasted White’s can grow to outrageous sizes topping out at almost 50 pounds. By contrast, heritage, and wild turkey’s max out at about 25 to 30.

Over the last decade there has been a renewed fascination with artisanal breeds,  and farmers are now producing more expensive heritage breed turkeys like the Narragansett, Bourbon Red, and Royal Palm. If you want a heritage turkey for dinner this Thanksgiving you can find one in your state by searching here.

Along with all that turkey eating info, I thought I’d also post a number of Turkey themed Thanksgiving postcards. All of these images are 72ppi and medium-sized for loads of Thanksgiving posting. They have been culled from public domain websites and for the most part cropped. As I was gathering these up, a couple of things occurred to me. First off around 1900 to 1910 There was a huge fascination with turkey’s and children. Kids riding on them, trying to capture them, being pulled in wagons by them. There was also a very patriotic theme that ran with the turkey and Thanksgiving. I know it is an American holiday, but there are tons of images of turkeys with Uncle Sam and American flags. Maybe that has something to do with Ben Franklin nominating it as our national bird.

So behold, 25 Turkey/Thanksgiving images from roughly 110 years ago. All of them boldly  illustrated, engraved, and filled with turkeytude.