Postcards from Everywhere will take you on an incredible adventure across iconic cities that showcase their rich histories and charm, providing the opportunity for reflective scholarship and prompt analytical clarity.

As postcards became an inexpensive form of communication across social classes in 1900, they provided a universal bridge. Postcards illustrated both local sights as well as global events that occurred within society – culture clashes, class divisions, women’s rights issues, and new money were just some topics they addressed.

Featured Cities

This collection also contains postcard production archives from Curt Teich Company that show how postcard designs evolve from photographs into printed cards. These documents show all aspects of designing postcards from start to finish.

Postcards were an essential way of maintaining relationships across long distances, connecting people around the globe through experiences and ideas shared across them. Postcards often reflected Europe and America’s turbulent era of industrialization and urbanization that raised questions of culture, class, gender, new money and vicarious experience – such as boulevardiers in Paris or cancan dancers at Coney Island/Luna Park rides in New York; or perhaps architectural innovations or cultural renaissance projects.

Gennifer Weisenfeld defined disaster as any social disturbance to such an extent that social structures become severely dysfunctional and disarrayed.” Earthquakes and fires frequently took place; entire neighborhoods would often become inundated. Furthermore, postcards depicted more overtly political topics, such as suffrage or temperance movements – something which had caused worldwide anxiety at this point in history.

New York

In the years surrounding 1900, postcard mania gripped the world as millions were sent around, collected in albums and even turned into works of art. At The Newberry Library’s postcard collection are numerous cards showcasing urban landscapes from Empire State Building to Central Park that captured public imagination and cultural evolution in an ever-evolving city.

As one example, postcards depicting Indian servants adopting European domestic habits evoke Homi Bhabha’s argument that location determines how and why certain cultures become commodities (1994). They reinforce European dominance over colonial subjects while raising anxieties over domestic insubordination.

The exhibition also explores the human energy that contributed to New York’s rise, featuring some of its “big personalities” like Alexander Hamilton, Walt Whitman, and more. New York remains an alluring hub where people from diverse places and times gather. Indeed, diversity makes New York unique.

Paris

As postcards circulate and acquire new values, functions, and associations they create a dynamic archive that can be studied as part of an ongoing social process. This archive represents how people perceive and interpret their city while at the same time creating bonds among strangers.

Paris provides an exemplary example of how postcards can capture an essence of place and culture. Built around three main parts defined by the Seine –the Ile de la Cit (ancient seat of religious and temporal authority), Left Bank (academic life), and Right Bank (economic life)–this city stands as an exemplar in terms of physical design.

Postcards of Paris feature many iconic world landmarks, from its world-famous Eiffel Tower and scenic canal views to the Louvre Museum’s massive art collection by Leonardo da Vinci himself – including Mona Lisa! Additionally, Paris is famous for its parks and gardens; under Napoleon III two ancient royal military preserves were converted into English-inspired parkland: Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes.

London

Postcards quickly rose to become the dominant form of printed photography in the early twentieth century and one of the primary means for photo sharing. Their widespread usage reflected globalized communication networks involving diverse subjects such as class, women’s rights and culture – as well as reflecting an age marked by industrialization and urbanization.

Postcards can also serve as tools to process fieldwork experience. For instance, an anthropologist working in a conflict zone could use postcards as reflective ethnographic fieldnotes by writing to her mentor about it afterwards.

Postcards can serve as an important platform for social bridging and collaboration across the worldwide diaspora, as evidenced by Kinfolk’s “Postcards from Everywhere” project, which collected postcards from family members across different cities to send to Nashville as part of a multigenerational music collective’s goal to build community across distance and time while capitalizing on shared strengths and values within their family. Their objective was to challenge pedagogical norms of ethnography that require students to go out into the field alone (Cahill 2007), providing instead a collaborative context in which to work and connect.

Budapest

Budapest is an impressive European city featuring grand 19th-century landmarks that stand proudly against modern life. The Danube River divides hilly Buda from flat Pest, while its 19th-century Chain Bridge connects them. Matthias Church and Fishermen’s Bastion both offer breathtaking views while its History Museum provides insight into Budapest’s rich heritage.

City nightlife has seen a remarkable revival, particularly among resurgent clubs known for their popular ruin bars (converted buildings into trendy bars and clubs). Cool semi-secret courtyards for summer carousing and specialty coffee shops also offer excellent venues.

Contemporary cultural festivals take place across the city, such as LOW Festival which attracts over 500 artists who create theatre, dance and music that goes beyond mainstream perceptions.

Film production in Budapest is a major industry. Budapest’s architecture can evoke European cities while its relative affordability attracts Hollywood films year after year. Furthermore, Budapest boasts an established infrastructure which facilitates new work production – the 2021 drama Dune featured Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya as stars, while Yorgos Lanthimos’ surreal period piece Poor Things made use of studios and locations throughout Budapest to double for London, Lisbon, and Paris locations.