Though he’s never used it, retired Roanoke College professor Bob Stauffer has a theory about Twitter. Stauffer, who collects old postcards, has begun to think of his relics as old-school tweets. After all, they were short bursts of information often updating another on a person’s whereabouts and recent activities.
The economist likens postcards to a “rudimentary form of texting,” but he doesn’t use text messaging either. He does use e-mail and eBay, which he employs to enhance his postcard collection. “Back in the 1900s, you could send a picture and a short message for a penny,” he points out, adding “Who needs a phone to take pictures and send text?”
Stauffer says the “golden age of postcards” was 1900-1920, when most people didn’t have phones in their homes and calls were very expensive. Old postcards, he says, often mention a letter to be sent soon and frequently seem to have been used for suggesting meetings at particular times and places, much like today’s text messages.
Stauffer has been “seriously” collecting since 1980 but began his extensive postcard collection, which numbers in the thousands, even earlier. He got started while looking for the work of his grandfather, who designed greeting cards. Most interesting, he says, are postcards from before the 1930s. Stauffer says they are more diverse and have a higher quality of photography and printing than later versions.
“The most interesting from an historical standpoint are cards from small towns, real photo cards of interesting scenes or events, and pictures of places that no longer exist,” Stauffer says. For example, in Salem scenes, postcards of the long gone Lakeside Amusement park are very collectible.
Antique malls, eBay and even postcard shows are major sources for Stauffer’s collection. So, this year, as you gear up for summer vacation, think about sending postcards instead of texts and tweets to keep loved ones updated on your adventures. You’ll be using “old style,” Stauffer would say (not to mention doing the postal service a favor in the process).
