Step back in time with these vintage travel postcards from days gone by, each telling its own captivating tale and sparking your curiosity for urban exploration. Let this visual itinerary ignite your wanderlust and ignite passion for urban discovery!
Postcards are social archiveal objects that document how photographs circulate. By altering and convoluting photographic images, postcards rework them into “cultures of circulation” (Lee and Li Puma 2002; Gaonkar and Povinelli 2003).
The History of Travel Postcards
Postcards remain an iconic form of communication in an age dominated by digital photography. Not only are they convenient ways of sending a message, they’re also nostalgic reminders of past vacations as well as documenting history through printing and postal technologies. Postcards have traveled the world over, giving us insight into some of its most incredible destinations.
Postcards first made their debut as visual promotional tools for tourism back in 1860s Europe. Later that decade, when the Universal Postal Union was created in 1874 and enabled postcards to be sent throughout the globe, companies got involved with marketing postcards and started covering them with advertisements on their backs.
Postcard production began to increase dramatically by the late 19th century. A standard postcard featured an image on its front side while leaving its reverse blank for message and address information; this design became widespread among German, French, and American postal carriers alike.
Postcards were popular souvenirs during the early 20th century. Cheap, easy to produce, and easily shared among family and friends, postcards proved an engaging way to remember trips through photographs alone. Travelers know all too well how quickly our attention span can wane when scrolling through an endless feed of social media photos; postcards were thus more effective at reinvigorating those adventures from which they had just returned home.
Urban Exploration Through Vintage Postcards
Old travel postcards bring cities’ histories to life through their delicate brush strokes and faded hues, offering a glimpse into bygone eras, while showing architectural marvels and cultural vibrancy across cities ranging from New York to Budapest.
Postcards from the turn of the century document Buffalo’s transformation from an industrial powerhouse into a city with cultural renaissance. From bustling docks and steel mills during Buffalo’s industrial heyday to more contemporary scenes such as parks and cultural attractions along its waterfront reimagined waterfront, postcards provide an insight into its transformation from industrial titan to city of cultural renewal.
Curt Teich Company of Chicago produced postcards and administrative records from one of the most prolific postcard manufacturers during the first half of the 20th century, creating postcards such as those featured here as well as production archives that illustrate how one from design through production went from initial sketch to printed image. This archive holds both postcards themselves as well as production archives documenting this process of making postcards.
Archival materials show that postcards were an extraordinary form of popular media in the early 20th century, serving a multitude of purposes and in various discursive spaces across society. Their wide distribution enabled multiple uses while maintaining value over time through exchanges among friends and strangers alike; while its hazy boundary between production and consumption allowed this dynamic circulation.
The Art of Travel Postcards
Postcards provide the ideal way to quickly send quick notes home while traveling. From “Wish You Were Here” messages to more heartfelt “Still Thinking of You,” postcards provide an easy and cost-effective way to share a little piece of your trip with those closest to you.
Modern society may view postcards as just another means for vacationers to brag about their trips; traditionalists know otherwise: postcards can be a beautiful and meaningful gesture to let loved ones who couldn’t travel along know they remain close in spirit and close to your heart. That’s what Nate Smith does on Kinfolk: Postcards from Everywhere – his second release with his Kinfolk band as leader and first on Ropeadope Records.
Smith and his bandmates provide us with a stunning account of a remarkable journey, but they do so through snapshots which allow the listener to piece it all together themselves and feel it all more deeply personal. As a result, this album’s music is more evocative than ever, creating an impactful yet emotive listening experience.
The Travel Postcard Collection
Postcards may now serve a simple purpose of sending notes or souvenirs, but in their prime they were indispensable tools of global communication – they served to illustrate social, economic and political events globally while reaching all classes of society.
People collected postcards as a means to share experiences and build connections across borders. Postcards also helped disseminate ideas, opinions and cultural practices. Postcards depicting Tokyo’s 1923 earthquake were particularly popular subjects – images showing buildings aflame or entire quadrants reduced to rubble were some of the most requested postcards subjects.
Our collection features postcards that demonstrate various aspects of travel and tourism history, ranging from early photographic cards with divided-backs to color lithographic cards printed with linen-textured images. In addition, we house an impressive 8,000 item brochure collection related to Florida tourism as well as an abundant amount of stereoview cards related to Florida travel and tourism.
As opposed to most postcard histories that focus on specific pictorial or geographical themes – such as historic New York City postcards or cards produced by Curt Teich & Company – our collection takes an expansive approach by collecting multiple versions of an image and considering how these visual representations change how people see the world and influence communication.