1860s–1870s
The Postcard Emerges
Early postal cards introduced a simple and inexpensive way to send brief written messages through the mail.
Special Museum Exhibition
Every Card
Has a History
Explore more than a century of communication, travel, printing, photography, art, and everyday life through the story of the postcard.
Introduction to the Exhibition
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Small Objects, Remarkable Stories
Postcards have connected people for more than 150 years. They carried greetings, news, jokes, advertisements, travel memories, and personal messages while creating an extraordinary visual record of communities around the world.
A single card may preserve a vanished hotel, a forgotten roadside attraction, a family message, an old postmark, or the only known view of a changing neighborhood.
History of PostcardsPermanent Educational ExhibitionThe Virtual Postcard Museum
Walk Through Time
The Postcard Timeline
Postcards changed as postal regulations, printing technology, photography, travel, and popular taste evolved.
1893–1898
Picture Postcards Gain Attention
Illustrated souvenir cards became increasingly popular after major exhibitions and public events introduced them to large audiences.
1898–1901
The Private Mailing Card Era
Privately printed cards could be mailed at postcard rates, helping publishers create a growing variety of illustrated cards.
1901–1907
The Undivided-Back Era
The address occupied the entire back of the card, so senders often wrote short messages in open spaces on the picture side.
1907–1915
The Divided-Back Golden Age
A divided back allowed the message and address to share the same side, while the entire front could display an image.
1915–1930
The White-Border Era
Many American cards featured printed scenes surrounded by white borders as domestic production became more common.
1930–1945
The Linen Era
Textured paper and richly exaggerated colors created the distinctive linen postcards associated with roadside America.
1945–Present
The Photochrome Era
Improved color photography and printing produced the glossy scenic postcards familiar to modern travelers.
The Golden Age
When Postcards Became a Worldwide Craze
During the early twentieth century, postcards became one of the fastest and most popular ways to communicate. People mailed them from vacations, exchanged them with collectors, saved them in albums, and used them to share images of places they might never visit in person.
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Quick Communication
A postcard offered a brief, affordable way to send news and greetings.
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Expanding Travel
Railroads, resorts, hotels, and tourist attractions created endless postcard subjects.
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Collecting Albums
Families and collectors organized cards into albums as personal visual libraries.
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Views of the World
Postcards allowed people to see cities, landscapes, and customs far beyond home.
How Postcards Were Made
Printing & Production
Different printing methods gave each era its own recognizable colors, textures, details, and artistic character.
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Lithography
Artists and printers used lithographic techniques to reproduce detailed illustrations, lettering, and colorful scenes.
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Hand Coloring
Some early photographic cards were carefully colored by hand, giving each example subtle individual differences.
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Real Photo Postcards
Photographic images printed directly onto postcard stock documented families, businesses, disasters, streets, and local events.
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Linen Printing
A textured paper surface and bold inks created bright, stylized views of towns, highways, hotels, and attractions.
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Photochrome Printing
Modern color reproduction created smooth, detailed images that closely resembled color photographs.
✨
Embossing & Decoration
Holiday and greeting postcards often featured raised designs, metallic accents, glitter, ribbons, or other decorative finishes.
The Message Side
Handwriting, Stamps & Postmarks
The back of a postcard can be just as important as the picture. Handwritten messages preserve personal voices, relationships, humor, travel experiences, and everyday concerns.
Stamps and postmarks may help identify when and where a card was mailed, while publisher names and printed markings can assist with research and dating.
For this reason, the Virtual Postcard Museum will preserve and display both the front and back of cards whenever possible.
Why Preserve Postcards?
Windows Into the Past
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Architecture
Postcards preserve images of buildings, streets, hotels, stations, theaters, and neighborhoods that may no longer exist.
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Travel & Tourism
They reveal how destinations advertised themselves and what earlier travelers considered exciting, beautiful, or modern.
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Everyday Life
Messages, postmarks, clothing, automobiles, stores, and ordinary scenes provide evidence of daily life across generations.
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Printing & Design
Postcard artwork records changing styles in photography, illustration, typography, advertising, and commercial printing.
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Preserving History, One Postcard at a Time
The Virtual Postcard Museum is dedicated to preserving these historic objects, documenting their stories, and making them accessible to visitors around the world.
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