Postcard Collection Captures a "Window into the Past"

By Kelly Whittacker

Have you ever wondered what your community looked like at the turn of the century? Ever wanted to see what famous landmarks and tourist attractions drew in visitors from around the world in the beginning of the twentieth century? Or, maybe you've just wondered how much it cost to send a postcard in the 1920s? The National Trust for Historic Preservation Library Collection, located in the University of Maryland 's Hornbake Library, has the answers to all these questions in the form of more than 18,500 postcards from 3,185 identified locations across the United States and around the world. Joanne Archer is a member of the historic preservation team that oversees the National Trust postcard collection at the University of Maryland. Peter Curtis and Joanne Archer are members of the library's historic preservation team that oversees the postcard collection. They say it is the largest in the University of Maryland system. The collection includes images dating from the years 1900-1920, during which time postcard collecting was an "enormous hobby," says Curtis. The majority of the postcards come from a single New England donor, who gave the collection to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. When the university took over the collection, there were approximately 14,000 images. Because of the original donor's location, about 75 percent of the collection contains images from New England, including thousands of postcards from the state of Maine alone. But there are postcards from all 50 states and more than 20 foreign countries. There are 33 Maryland locations in the postcard collection - the most coming from Baltimore. "The postcards give us really early images of towns and landscapes, some of them places that no longer exist," Curtis says.

While many postcards contain just the image, about half of the collection were mailed and therefore bear stamps and addresses from that era. There are about 900 postcards with locations that cannot be identified, but still provide insight into the lives of Americans during this time. A favorite of Curtis' shows a woman sitting in front of her house in a new automobile. "These pictures are more important socially," Curtis said. "This one, for example, is symbolic of the automobile changing the lives of American women during this time."

Most of the state postcards in the collection are arranged alphabetically and geographically according to location. There is also a separate subject card collection that offers postcard views of everying from "African Americans" to "Western Life." Archer says the collection is one of the largest organized in detail by place. Additional information about the images is available on the National Trust Library's website.

Archer and Curtis are currently working to scan and then digitize parts of the collection so that it can be shared online. There are currently 150 images digitized, with the majority from Maryland. The collection, which will be part of the University Libraries digital collections, should go live sometime before the end of the 2008 spring semester.

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