In the first decade of the 20th century, Britain was at the peak of its power yet also on the verge of change. Researchers investigating the cultural history of this period will find an invaluable resource in the picture postcard, one of the era’s most successful popular art forms. Postcards such as Raphael Tuck & Sons' "oilettes" series -- featuring color reproductions of oil paintings -- made art images newly accessible to the public and encouraged a growing interest in postcard collecting. Now, they provide us with a window onto a rapidly changing society and a way to better understand how Edwardian-era British society understood itself and its place in the world.