The Postcard Stories, Part 1 - “Wish You Were Here”

I recently inherited two shoe boxes of postcards that were originally collected by my Aunt Ina. If you follow this blog, you know that I am fond of the stories that are preserved in letters and cards;  a few of those stories are here, here, and here.

As I thumbed through the 600 or so cards in this collection, it struck me that there were multiple stories to be told here. The first is the remarkable history of the “picture postcard” itself (and its unadorned official postal card counterpart). All but extinct now as a means of person-to-person contact, the postcard was the email of the day – and the text message and Instagram. Once, people sent a picture with a note. It was fast, easy and cheap.

Today, if you get a postcard in the mail, it is probably a commercial message from the neighborhood pizza place promoting the specials of the week, or a reminder from your dentist of your next appointment (though mine emails me now). When, if ever, was the last time you got a personal postcard from a friend or relative?

The whole subject of the history and subsequent collection of postcards (called “deltiology”) is fascinating. Like stamp-collecting, there are avid collectors and many specialties. For example, check out Austinpostcards.com. But the subject of interest right now is the card collection at hand, and the stories found on those cards.

Most of the cards feature a scene, or building, or vista of some vacation spot – the type of card you gather up at the souvenir shop and send to the folks back home with the “Wish you were here” message. More than a few promote hotels and motels  – probably available for free at the front desk.

And an interesting group of cards were from churches Ina visited in her travels. I guess you would classify these as “Glad you were here” cards.

My aunt was well-traveled, and quite a few cards contain messages from her back to family members, which were then passed back to her for curating. She had many friends through her years of teaching at TCU and involvement in numerous professional organizations, and I believe that everyone she knew sent her cards as they traveled the world. I briefly thought about compiling a list of pictured locations, but gave that up as too much work.

What about a list of foreign locales? After logging Jerusalem, Mexico City, Montreal, Hawaii, Quebec, Nassau, Hamburg, Virgin Islands, Panama, Jan Juan, Moscow, Canterbury, Amsterdam, Zurich and Kowloon - and less than 1/3 of the cards searched, I gave that up too. Suffice it to say that there are lot of locations represented.