Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Postcard Memories

What is it about a postcard? I am just drawn to them. I think it is the romanticism of foreign lands, the thoughts of someone special that you wish you could share an experience with, and the capture of beautiful scenery...it is all capsuled there on a small card the size of an index card. It is a sentimentality that I am drawn too. I have about over a hundred postcard that I began collecting when I was a little girl and have accumulated over the years. I always have thought the written exchanges a bit romantic. Especially in today's word when contact is through computers and blackberry's.
Not so romantic....
In the 19th century mail was often refused because recipients did not want to pay the outlandish postage prices. But when England first issued it's first stamp, the Penny Black, the world began to change in the way it wrote letters. Stamps were introduced in America seven years later and the communication craze began...much like a facebook of today. With correspondence affordable, people became interested in written exchanges and the art of communication across the miles. Postcards became a fast and inexpensive way to send personal messages. It was a way of collecting someone's personal thoughts and photos and memories. A way to share life's experiences. It has become a piece of time. An exchange of history.

The postcards that I have collected over time illustrate, in some small part, my own life journey. They are literal snapshots of not only a special place but a specific page in my personal journey.
I love looking back on them and recalling a certain event, a special moment or memory. And I especially cherish the ones that once belonged to my ancestors. They are able to relate a small story to me, even after my loved ones have passed. A story that I can share with my children of something as magical as a trip to an exotic land.....or just a message of correspondence, before the days of telephones....when people "courted". Certainly romantic. A certain treasure- captured on a "index card".
Tags-#1 &#2 postcards from my grandfather to my grandmother dated 1949.
Tag #3-a few postcards from travels.

9 comments:

Justabeachkat said...

That's how I feel about photos. What a treasure your postcards are.

Hugs!
Kat

Keetha Broyles said...

And even with pc's and blackberries, they still sell postcards in touristy places.

Mari said...

I love your collection. I especially love that you have cards from your grandparents. My MIL has a collection of old postcards too and I find them fascinating.

Nicolle said...

That is so cool! I love postcards also. I love to send them and receive them. I hope that they don't become a thing of the past, with email and such these days.

Meg said...

Call me old fashioned...I love postcards, still. I don't have a collection like you or anything, but I still enjoy getting them and sending them! Thanks so much for posting this, you gave me an idea!

Hugs!

Meg said...

Call me old fashioned...I love postcards, still. I don't have a collection like you or anything, but I still enjoy getting them and sending them! Thanks so much for posting this, you gave me an idea!

Hugs!

~ ~ Ahrisha ~ ~ said...

Leigh~ ~I love postcards too and have a few old ones but I tend toward the the romantic flowery pictures.
Nice you have cards from you family.
Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Kristin - The Goat said...

I used to have a friend in the antique business and I would go and sit at his shop for hours and read through the old postcards. I'd come home all stuffed up from touching the old paper lol

I have quite a collection of old postcards but only a very few from my family. I don't think I have any that are are over 40 years old. still, they are treasured memories.

I love your collection!

Laura @ the shorehouse. said...

I collect vintage postcards of places and things near and dear...the Jersey Shore, the Statue of Liberty, places I've visited (especially the Catskill mountains of NY where I vacationed with my family as a kid). To me they are affordable pieces of art that carry such great history of them (I prefer buying ones that are written on...the stories some of them tell!). I love that you have a card from your grandfather to your grandmother. Not THAT'S truly priceless.