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Postcards from our past

By Judith W. Rosenthal

August 29, 2008

Long before today's faxes, computers, email, the Internet, video cams, jpegs, cell phones, and Skype, picture postcards were all the rage. First issued around 1870 in Europe and the United States, they were not only a popular means of inexpensive communication, but also collected and traded.

Today, these vintage postcards have become collectibles. They can be purchased at "postcard shows," found in dusty corners of antique shops, and bought online from private dealers (and on eBay). Some of the postcards which are available for purchase were never sent; most likely they were part of someone's collection. For those postcards which were actually mailed, what is written on the back and even the stamps affixed to them are often almost as interesting as the scene depicted on the other side. Sometimes, the handwritten message on the reverse side of the postcard is written in Yiddish, or the writer may have included the date (or the date appears in the postmark).  Frequently nostalgic in nature, picture postcards capture aspects of Jewish life and history that have long disappeared. For example, many of the European synagogues destroyed in the Holocaust can still be seen on postcards. Not surprisingly, there are also anti-Semitic postcards, images of pogroms, and concentration camps.  

The price of a vintage postcard depends on its age, "condition" (how much wear and tear it has suffered), how unique it is, and a host of other factors. Prices often are negotiable.

I began my collection when working on a family history (of my mother's side), using postcards to provide "pictures" of places where my great-grandparents, grandparents, and mother lived, worked, went to school, owned property, and worshipped. I can look at them and say, here is the image of Kamenets-Podolski from which my great-grandparents immigrated. Here is Fort Garry in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, which sheltered several hundred immigrant Jews -- including my great-grandparents and grandmother -- during the winter of 1883. Here is Temple Beth Israel in Portland, Ore.; my great-great-grandfather Hirsch is buried in the synagogue's cemetery. Here is a turn of the century image of the University of Washington from which my grandmother received her bachelor's degree in 1900 and her law degree in 1901. Since my recent trip to Israel, I have also begun collecting postcards with images of Palestine, such as Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and views of Jerusalem.

Just as I am a reader who likes the feel of a book in my hands and to browse in the stacks of a library, searching through boxes of postcards provides me with the same pleasure. I never know what treasure I may encounter. For postcard shows, I carry a list of specific images for which I am looking but often find myself going through hundreds, possibly thousands, of postcards in a day just in case I come across something unexpected.

Vintage postcards make great gifts for friends and family members who cherish the past. Of course the theme of the postcard does not have to be "Jewish". It might be the town in which someone grew up or the college or camp they attended many years ago.  Besides being affordable and educational, postcards, unlike other collectibles, don't take up much space. They can be stored in archival page protectors, scanned onto your computer, and increase in value over time.

Vintage postcards are windows to our past. They have survived world wars, often traveled long distances, and passed through many hands. The postmark, canceled stamp, and the message written on the back provide a snapshot of a moment in time when the sender was alive and reaching out to tell a friend or family member about something important in his or her life. Although that point in time may now be long gone, in a way it lives on in that postcard.