Some of My Favorites for National Postcard Week by Sydney Whiteside

Postcard Collection 1900-, Beaufort District Collection.

Happy National Postcard Week! Although the Beaufort District Collection is typically known to collect items such as books, maps, and posters; we also collect postcards. Postcards are one of my favorite forms of media that we collect, which is why I am thrilled to be sharing all of the ins and outs of postcards in the BDC!  

In this blog post, I will be diving into the "process of processing" postcards in the Beaufort District Collection, the history of postcards, the history of Postcard Week, and I will even be sharing a little bit about individual processed postcard collections in the BDC with examples from each. So, let's get started!

The “Process of Processing” Postcards 

Russell J. Arnsberger Postcard Collection.

Such is with all collection development, there are important procedures to follow. As Cassandra likes to say, the “process of processing” postcards begins with determining the materials relevant to our collection.  If deemed relevant by our manager, the postcards themselves will then be inventoried and inspected. If any of the materials are soiled or damaged, a decision will have to be made as to whether they can be repaired and/or  preserved. In case of duplicate postcards, staff will compare the options and keep the "best one."  The postcards will then be placed into polypropylene sleeves and stored appropriately in one of few places: an archival folder, a binder, or an archival box. 

The Russell J. Arnsberger Postcard Collection was organized by the donor into categories such as streets, buildings, churches, homes, etc. After organizing, a finding aid will be created in order to describe the collection and its arrangement which will then be posted to the BDC’s WordPress Blog. Since archival processing is Cassandra’s main priority, finding aids are kind of her jam. She has provided an amazing overview of the some of the most recent finding aids in one of her recent blog posts: "The Process of Processing:" Preservation Week 2025 Display by Cassandra Knoppel.  

The History of Postcards 

Now, let's dive into the history of postcards! Prior to the invention of postcards, people relied on writing and sending letters to those they could not converse with in person. Throughout the nineteenth century, cards containing items such as valentines and comics were sent in the mail. The desire to send printed images steadily increased, but post offices ran into copyright issues when it came to mailing privately printed images.  

On February 27, 1861, the United States Congress passed an act that would allow cards that have been privately printed – postcards – to be mailed. Later that year, John P. Charlton was granted copyright permissions for the first published postcard. From the stamp's original cost of $0.01 to mail a postcard, its price has increased to a whopping $0.56 as of 2024. 

When it comes to determining when a postcard was created, there are some identifying factors that can help estimate when they were produced. Postcards with distinctly divided backs were most prevalent from 1907 to 1915, postcards with a white boarder around its image were popular from 1915 to 1930, and postcards made from linen were produced from 1930 to 1945. Below you will see the commonly agreed upon timeline of postcard periods:

Pre-Postcard Period: 1848 – 1870 

Pioneer Period: 1870 – 1898 

Private Mailing Card Period: 1898 – 1901 

Post Card Period: 1901 – 1907 

Divided Back Period: 1907 – 1915 

White Boarder Period: 1915 – 1930 

Linen Period: 1930 – 1945 

Photochrom Period: 1945 – Present 

[BTW: I have packaged 1 hour or 2 hours very illustrated lecture about the BDC's postcards collections that I present as an outreach activity to community groups from time to time. I'm already booking for the period August 2025 - June 2026. If you think that topic would be of interest to your organization, reach out: bdc@bcgov.net or 843-255-6468 to see if we can find a mutually agreeable date and time.-- Grace Cordial]  

The History of Postcard Week 

Prior to dedicating an entire week to commemorating postcards, Postcard Day was celebrated with more of an intent to promote civic pride and tourism. In the United States, postcards printed in the year of 1911 were found to have "Postcard Day, May 1" on display. Further North in Canada the following year, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and their Board of Trade proclaimed June first to be "Post Card Day". Postcards used to promote the holiday as well as new towns often included fun slogans like this one from Barlow, Florida:

"The First of May is Postcard Day, by the Courier-Informant"

Deltiology is the study and collection of postcards. National Postcard Week as we know it now began in May of 1984 with the purpose of promoting deltiology and increasing the use of postcards across the country. This week of celebration began in the United States, but has since reached postcard enthusiasts in other countries all around the world.

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Postcards in the Beaufort District Collection

The Beaufort District Collection is currently home to five processed postcard collections. A number of the scrapbook collections contain a postcard or two or more. One of the postcard collections has been digitized and made available through the Lowcountry Digital Library. Each of these collections are available to view inside of the Research Room. If you are interested in viewing any of our collections, please see the end of this post for instructions on how to make an appointment. Without further ado, let's see some of our postcards!

Beverly Bowers Jennings Postcard Collection

Date Range: 1900-2018

The Beverly Bowers Jennings Postcard Collection is a small collection that contains postcards related to the seafood industry, shrimping, and coastal culture here in the South Carolina Lowcountry as well as differing parts of Florida. Jennings is a Master Naturalist who is well known in the Beaufort community for her environmental efforts and love for the sea.

Titled "General Florida Scene," this first postcard appears to be from the photochrom period due to its coloring and quality. An explanation of the scene is printed on the back: "The shrimp fleet makes a picturesque scene, anchored in a Florida port, awaiting its turn to unload its cargo". This particular postcard is filed under the "Boats" section of this collection, as Mrs. Jennings acquired multiple boat scene postcards.

The second postcard from the Beverly Bowers Jennings Postcard Collection depicts "Old City Hall, Erected in 1843, Georgetown, S.C.". I selected this specific postcard to commemorate our recent Lafayette celebrations. What does Lafayette have to do with the Old Georgetown City Hall, you may ask? The back of the postcard can answer that question: "This unique building was erected in 1843. On front of the building has been placed a bronze plaque commemorating the first landing of Lafayette in 1777 on North Island". Not every postcard in our holding contains writing on the back; however, this postcard does in fact have a message written on it. It was mailed from Georgetown, South Carolina to Portland, Maine at 3 PM on April 5th, 1953.  [I worked in the Rice Museum in this building as a teenager. One fine summer Saturday morning in 1975, I met my future husband in this building because he was looking for a toilet. In fact, the first words out of his mouth were "Do you have a toilet ma'am?" My answer - "Yes, and it'll be $2.00 for the tour." He paid the fee, used the restroom facilities, and we were a team for the next 46 years. -- Grace Cordial ] 

Lucille Hasell Culp Postcard Collection

Date Range: 1940-1981

The Beaufort District Collection contains a plethora of Lucille Hasell Culp's papers. In addition to our enormous photograph collection of hers, we also house her personal postcard collection. Because she was a professional photographer, her business, Palmetto Studios, published a postcard series of local places. The local postcards are sorted into the following headings: Air Station, Arsenal Beaufort, Beaufort, Bluffton, Hilton Head, Naval Hospital Beaufort, Parris Island, Sheldon Church, and St. Helena Episcopal. She collected postcards from twenty different states as well as Washington, D.C.

Since I am from Maryland, I felt compelled to include a postcard from the Maryland section of the Culp collection. This piece in particular depicts the Baltimore City Hall, including the Municipal Office Building and War Memorial Plaza. The card is marked "City Hall and Municipal Office Building and Memorial Plaza, Baltimore, Md". These buildings were constructed throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with the memorial being dedicated in 1925. Knowing these dates and that the postcard is of linen material, we can estimated that it was created sometime in the 1930's.

Another personal choice from this collection is a postcard of the former Beaufort Township Library, the predecessor of the Beaufort County Library. The BDC even has some materials from this building here in our Research Room today.  This postcard was printed in 1949 and is covered in writing on both the front and the back. Clear as day on the front you can see written "What's a roach?". The context of the question? We will never know...

Beaufort County Postcard Collection 1900-

Date Range: 1900-2000-ish

This is a special collection that was assembled by library staff over many years. The collection is referred to as artificial due to the fact that postcards from various sources are compiled into one collection. These postcards were either donated by library staff and anonymous donors or purchased specifically for the collection. Postcards in this collection relate to Beaufort County and fall into categories such as Historic Homes, Churches, Waterfront, Schools, Forts, Coastal Sea Island Scenes, and so much more.

This postcard depicts the old ferry landing located more or less where the public bathrooms in the Waterfront Park nearest to the Woods Memorial Bridge are now. It was published by Charles G. Luther of Luther's Pharmacy and has the year 1907 written on the front. An interesting tidbit about this postcard is that on the back it states that a one cent stamp must be placed for mailing in the United States, Canada and Mexico. If the card was destined for any any other country, a two cent stamp was required.

This next postcard is titled "Aerial View of Beaufort, S.C." and that is exactly what it is! The image contains an interesting drawing of Downtown Beaufort. The postcard itself is made of a linen material, which leads us to believe it was produced sometime between 1930 and 1945; however, it was not mailed until February 8th, 1958 - and the fee had gone up to two cents. Postcards were often kept in print for years.

Robert E. H. Peeples Postcard Collection

Date Range: 1910-1989

The Robert E. H. Peeples Postcard Collection is- in my opinion- the most unique collection. Dr. Peeples was known throughout Beaufort County for his love of history and research. His collection contains postcards from 33 different states as well as D.C., Africa, Belgium, Canada, Cuba, England, France, Germany, and India. They are separated by state and placed in alphabetical order, with the small amount of postcards from various countries found toward the back of the collection. This collection was given to the Beaufort District Collection by the Heritage Library Foundation of Hilton Head Island.

One of the most interesting postcards I have found came all the way from India! Titled "Queen's Statue. Bombay.", this postcard depicts a statue of Queen Victoria that is located in Mumbai, India (formally known as Bombay). The statue was gifted to the city in 1872 following the Sepoy Rebellion and in recognition of India's transition to British Crown rule in 1858. At the time of the photo, the statue was located in the Victoria Gardens of Bombay. The portion of the Queen and her throne is approximately eight feet tall; with the addition of the canopy, the statue reaches upwards of forty-two feet. Unfortunately, the statue was damaged while being transported from the gardens to the Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai (formerly known as the Victoria and Albert Museum of Bombay). It is difficult to say when this particular postcard was created as there are no notable factors present.

On the opposite side of the world, we have a postcard from Alberta, Canada! You can see a man standing in front of (presumably) his log cabin during a hefty Canadian snowfall. The divided back means that we can estimate that this postcard was published sometime between 1907 and 1915. I love this piece because the only words scribbled on the back of the postcard are "enough said". 

Russell J. Arnsberger Postcard Collection

Date Range: 1900-1985

The Russell J. Arnsberger Postcard Collection is available in physical form and as our only digitized postcard collection in the Lowcountry Digital Library. This collections contains over 350 postcards of houses, businesses, public buildings, street views, military base activities and structures in and around Beaufort, South Carolina.

"Water Front in Beaufort" is a black and white photographic postcard of the structures along the riverside of Bay Street in Beaufort, South Carolina. Correspondence postmarked March 12, 1907. In this postcard, you can see the bones of Downtown Beaufort that we all know and love. It is just fascinating to see how it has transformed over the last hundred years.

Last but certainly not least, I wanted to end this post with one of my favorite postcards in the entirety of our collections. "Watercolor Scenes of Beaufort, South Carolina" features illustrations of historic buildings and sites based on watercolor paintings created by E. F. Dawes. I still remember the first time I sifted through our postcard holdings and came across this postcard. I absolutely love stained glass - and have also really come to enjoy postcards - so I was immediately drawn to this postcard. Some notable Beaufort gems that are depicted include: the Old Sheldon Church Ruins, St. Helena's Episcopal Church, Hunting Island Lighthouse, and Berean Presbyterian Church (Which was turned into the J.I. Washington Colored Library, and is now used by USCB as an art studio). Looking at this postcard makes you feel as though you are glancing through an actual stained glass window. The amount of thoughtfulness and talent in this one postcard never ceases to amaze me.

[You might be wondering why the BDC has postcards from non-Beaufort District related places. Sometimes in order to get the "good stuff" - i.e., those Beaufort District related materials - we have to take on responsibility for "other stuff" that comes in along with the "good stuff." Sometimes we try to identify other institutions that might better appreciate the "other stuff" and relay part of the donation to them; sometimes we keep the "other stuff" on hand because of the personal notes relating to a local family or if the materials relate to a local person's business activities. So while we do possess and take care of some "other stuff" in the case of postcards, our intent is to focus on postcards about, of, and directly related to people, places, buildings, events, businesses, etc. of Beaufort District. All this is to say, for the BDC, content is king. We primarily collect postcards related to the BDC's mission. -- Grace Cordial]

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I hope you have enjoyed learning about the history of postcards and our holdings of them here in the BDC. If you are interested in any of the materials I have shared today or wish to explore our collection for yourself: appointments are encouraged, while walk-ins are sometimes accepted. To make an appointment, send an email to bdc@bcgov.net or give us a call at 843-255-6468. We hope to hear from you soon!

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Works Cited 

Banerjee, J. (2016). “Seated Statue of Queen Victoria, Mumbai” by Matthew Noble. The Victorian Web. https://victorianweb.org/sculpture/noble/25.html  

Hahn, R. (2021). National Post Card Week. Postcard History. https://postcardhistory.net/2021/05/national-post-card-week/  

Modern Postcard (2024). Celebrate National Postcard Week with Modern Postcard. Modern Postcard. https://www.modernpostcard.com/blog/national-postcard-week  

Smithsonian (2025). Greetings from the Smithsonian: A Postcard History. Smithsonian Institution Archives. https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/postcard/postcard-history  

Swint, D. (2023).  National Postcard Week (NPCW) History. National Postcard Week. https://sites.google.com/view/national-postcard-week/history