The Library History Buff

Promoting the appreciation, enjoyment, and preservation of library history

Library Postcards

The Viroqua (WI) Public Library, now the McIntosh Memorial Public Library.

Collecting picture postcards of libraries is one of the most common and most popular librariana collecting areas. With the assistance of Norman D. Stevens I have compiled a list of people who have previously collected library postcards.  I also maintain a list of active library postcard collectors and collections.  If you are interested in being included on the active list or know of previous library postcard collectors contact me at nix@libraryhistorybuff.org.  Links to library postcard collections on the Internet and to some postcard collecting resources are provided below. 

Library postcards on this website

Library postcard favorites
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.org/pcfavorites.htm

American Library Association Library War Service Postcards
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.com/ala-ww1.htm

Library Postcard Collections on the Internet

The Library Postcard site of Sharon McQueen and Richard Douglas
http://www.libraryhistory.com/
This is a sophisticated site with great ambitions.  Contributions in the form of library postcards or money is being solicited to support the site.  Contact Richard Douglas to contribute.  You can also mail contributions to Postcards, 1101 Moline Street, Stoughton, WI 53589.

The Library Postcard site of Judy Aulik
http://home.comcast.net/~jaulik/index.html
This is a great library postcard site which is expanding. I'm envious.

Library Postcards at the American Library Association Archives
http://web.library.uiuc.edu/ahx/ead/ala/digital/ala-digital.html

Library Postcard Collection of Sjoerd Koopman (This collection is located at the ALA Archives site above)
http://images.library.uiuc.edu:8081/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/koopman 
Koopman gave the presentation "Libraries on postcards: historical trends, modern applications and potential" at IFLA 2008. A link to his presentation is below.
http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla74/papers/098-Koopman-en.pdf

Library Postcard Collection of J. Stewart Roberts Associates - Architects
http://web.me.com/jstewartroberts/JSRA_POSTCARDS/Index_.html

Library postcard group on Flickr established by Elizabeth Thomsen
http://www.flickr.com/groups/librarypostcards/

Bookmobile postcards and photos group on Flickr established by Benjamin Clark
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benjclark/sets/72157602094543461/

Library Postcards on the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center Website
http://heritage.wisconsinlibraries.org/postcards/

Postcards of the New York Public Library Collected by Harvey Lynch
http://www.nyplpostcard.com/

The Detroit Publishing Co. Collection at the Library of Congress
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/touring/
Search using the word "library".

The library postcard page of Owen Massey, a librarian in London, England
http://owen.massey.net/libraries/postcards.html

Postcard images provided by Bernadette A. Lear on the Libraries & the Cultural Record website
http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~lcr/archive/postcards1.php
Lear wrote the article "Wishing They Were There: Old Postcards and Library History" for the 2008 Vol. 43, No. 1 issue of Libraries & the Cultural Record.

Postcard Collecting Resources

Jack D. Mount's Postcard Resources Site
http://members.cox.net/jdmount/postcard.html

Postcard.org
http://www.postcard.org/
The San Francisco Bay Area Postcard Club site.

The Postcard Listserv
https://listserv.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/wa-iub.exe?A0=POSTCARD-L
This listserv is the oldest postcard listserv on the Internet.  It was originally established by Dan Lester and was located at Boise State University for many years.  It is now located at the University of Indiana.

The Postcard Web
https://www.thepostcardweb.com/

This site created and maintained by Larry T. Nix
Send comments or questions to nix@libraryhistorybuff.org
Last updated: 01-27-09  © 2005-2009 Larry T. Nix
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