Vintage Wednesday: Vintage Postcard

It started with Maria Von Trapp - my obsession with collecting postcards that is. I was in the 6th grade and we had a celebrity auction to raise money for the school. I don't remember the celebrities the other kids chose, but I think I'd just read the book about the REAL Maria Von Trapp and decided to ask for her autograph for the auction. I don't really think I anticipated getting a response, but low and behold I received not one, but TWO signed postcards by return mail. She specified that one was for me and one was for the auction. And thus began my "official" postcard collection.

At one time, I collected postcards only from places I'd visited. Pittsburgh trip in the 8th grade to Point Park? Check. Fort Boonesborough in Kentucky? Check. Postcard of (then President) Jimmy Carter from a trip to Plains, Georgia? Check.

As I got older, however, I discovered the world of antique postcards. These are the cards with sprays of roses or bunches of violets. Some had Gibson Girls relaxing in riparian scenes. I especially loved the cards from Germany or France with their detail and mystique.

I loved reading the messages from decades before like, "can you take some time from work and meet me at the depot? I won't tell!" or "Sweet memories attend you throughout the day" or "The making of friends, who are real friends, is the best test of success in life." Faithfully yours, Ursa A. Hyde.

And sometimes there are words to live by:
"The chain of Friendship stretching far Links Days that were with Days that are."