It's National Postcard Week!

National Postcard Week runs May 2 - May 8 this year. 

Of all the formats of graphic materials in the BDC, I actually like looking at the postcards the most. Why? you may ask. It has to do with ease of storage and familiar materials. Postcards tend to be made of paper. I like paper. I like handling paper and I like taking care of paper. Postcards tend to be small and rather uniform in size which helps minimize storage and care issues. One could readily find postcards in stores and pharmacies and at tourist destinations. This was important - to me - because I was a horrible photographer! I knew that a few postcard purchases would be far more reliable documentation of my trip than what might get developed from my film camera. (Thank goodness that my new cell phone has 4 - count them - 4 cameras! so I seldom have to discard blurry images any more). 

Postcards are also versatile in subject matter. Some deltiologists (the formal name of postcard collectors) concentrate on just one topic or area or a particular genre of postcards. In the BDC, as one might expect, our focus is on postcards connected to the area's local history. (At my house, I still tend to pick up a postcard or two when traveling - well, at least before COVID quarantine conditions - just in case. Old habits die hard.)  

Postcards are so popular with library and archives customers that we made a digital version of the Arnsberger Collection to celebrate National Postcard Week in 2017. View it through our partner Lowcountry Digital Library's website http://bit.ly/2q8VS3e. Indeed, if you just put "Postcards" in the LCDL search box, you'll get almost 5000! hits of postcards from the state and beyond. 

But wait! There's more. 

We have the Rev. Robert Peeples postcard collection that contains has more Hampton and Jasper County related images and content and family correspondence, particularly during World War II in the Research Room.  We also have an artificial collection of staff curated postcard collections for Beaufort County and the Amalia Pugh Scrapbook : Beaufort, S.C. Now and Then that includes vintage postcard images juxtaposed with photographs taken mostly in the early 21st century of the sites on the vintage postcards.

If you're on Facebook, check out our page this week. Each day I will post a postcard and write a little something about the postcard's history or subject matter. I did my best to highlight postcards not included on the BDC's Facebook in previous years. 

Please contact us for information about other postcards and local history materials we have: bdc@bcgov.net or call 843-255-6446. At least for the foreseeable future, appointments will be required to access the Research Room.