Lazy day thoughts

[rkold]

Lately I've been talking to stardustasylum on DoA. It's gotten me thinking about some of my interests outside of dolls/anime that I don't often share as much about.

I could claim ever since I went on my first trip, I've been collecting postcards. The earliest one I can remember is a summer trip through upstate New York. Since I knew my photographic skills have and will always be extremely limited, I bought some postcards to try to immortalize the sights I enjoyed most. But I didn't start collecting vintage postcards until I moved back to New York in 1995. My parents had bought a few vintage postcards and had them displayed in a frame. I really wanted to collect something, but money was too tight to consider dolls (the item I'd wanted to collect since I was 7) while post cards were generally about $3 and took up little space.

I feel bad, at one point in time I use to know how to estimate general time period a card was from based on the wording on the back and how the picture itself was shown. Now I am mostly stuck by going with the postmark when there is one. The majority of my collection are postcards of Oberlin College. The following is just a sampling.



Despite having a rip in it (usually a big no for collectors) I wanted this card as it is my oldest postcard. With "Printed Matter" on the back instead of "Postcard" this card is circ 1890. This postcard is of the original Warner Hall which was torn down to build King.


This photograph postcard from 1909 announces the construction of Wilder Hall the new men's dormitory. When I was at Oberlin, this was the student union.


This is Talcott Hall, one of the most desirable dorms on campus still. The rooms are huge and it's a 30 second walk to King or the Con. I lived here my senior year and met my husband in Talcott Storage. (You can actually see his room in this picture, it's the 3 windows at the end of the 3rd floor I believe.) This post card dates before 1907 because it has an undivided back.


Baldwin is the lovely dorm next to Talcott and when I was in Oberlin the Womyn's Collective. It was also home to the infamous Baldwin Food Co-op where I was a dessert cook my senior year. This postcard was sent in 1909, but was actually produced earlier with its undivided back.


French Hall use to be located in Tappan Square.


One of my few pre-WWII postcards of North Campus, this is Noah Hall. Someone used this card to take notes on dated 1937.


This fabulous undated photographic postcard shows the "Senior Class Play" How cool is that? Judging from what everyone is wearing it's pretty old.


While my disinterest in sports is legendary I do find this football postcard just great. I suspect this is from when Oberlin actually had a decent football team instead of one of the worst ones in all of college sports.


Another photographic postcard. Every time I see this one, I always wonder who the young men were in the picture and what happened to them.


This really unique 1909 postcard has a decorative heart that opens to reveal a series of mini-pictures of famous buildings on Oberlin Campus.


I also have a small collection of postcards of New Rochelle. I usually look for pictures of the north end, which are much much harder to find. New Rochelle has an interesting history and appears as a location in Ragtime (it's where the family is living at the start of the story) as well as is the dream suburb of the female love interest in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.


I love how all the roads look like they were dirt.




This house is still there


I use to bicycle here all the time. lol Oddly enough I think the sidewalk is now gone. o_O


Finally, I have a tiny collection of Judaica postcards. A postcard craze swept through Europe in the early 20th Century. Jews in both Europe and the US sent one another Yiddish postcards for the New Years and other holidays. I bought a lovely collection of re-printed Yiddish postcards in the Czech Republic in 1998 and found out about Hayim Goldberg, a Polish Jew working for Jehudia publishing in Warsaw where he took pictures and added text for postcards. Amazingly, the postcard catalog survived World War II and are now part of the National Library in Warsaw. Mr. Goldberg did not.


This is one of the reprinted postcards. The text reads: Papa writes in his letter: "My darling children, hello! May you be blessed, grow healthy and strong. I kiss you from head to toe!" The postcard tells the story of a father who has gone to America to work to bring his family over.


This is one of Hayim Goldberg's actual postcards, though this one was printed in Germany for the US market.


This is another New Year's Postcard printed in Germany. I suspect it was also done by Hayim Goldberg though not marked because it looks to use some of the same models as the two previous ones.


Happy day late Birthday to saintlex

Comments

[ladybrick.livejournal.com]

Those are very cool! I have one vintage Japanese postcard somewhere... not sure where it is or how old it is, but it's very pretty :D

My grandmother also found a bunch of postcards in her attic that were sent to her mother and grandmother from their children when they traveled. I hope she'll bring some with her for Christmas... they sound really interesting.

[jougetsu.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing! It's always nice to see people's different interests. ^___^

[stardustasylum.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks so much for scanning these! I find old postcards fascinating. Like you, I really wonder about pictures of people...I always end up making up stories about them. :) The Yiddish ones are fascinating!

[saintlex.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :) Awesome postcards.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Well if you look at the back you can get some idea of time period just based on that. The oldest cards don't have a space to write on. (Actually the oldest don't say post card lol)

Postcards are great, it's one of the reason I always try to send them to my family. :D

[rkold.livejournal.com]

I think it's nice to share unexpected interests sometimes. lol

Everyone on my flist practically collects dolls and/or anime. :D

[rkold.livejournal.com]

I don't make up stories but always sort of imagine trying to track them down and trying to find out about their current lives or what they did.

I love the Yiddish ones, they're so unique and really speak about a different time.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :D