Postcards

Who knew that there was a term―deltiolophiles―for avid postcard collectors? There’s another― deltiologists―for those who study the history of postcards.

While deltiology is news to me, I’m no stranger to postcards. I miss receiving postcards from family and friends who have fled winter for a vacation or are away on business travel. How I loved it in my teenage years and even into my twenties when my grandparents would send postcards to me of hunky men with cheesy sayings or a tropical name splashed across the photo. What a riot.

In this age of texting, Instagrams, email, Twitpics and status updates, people rarely receive print postcards by mail. Unless you count promotional postcards from realtors and tourism organizations, the only way you’re likely to spot postcards is if you browse for vintage ones at a flea market or on eBay.

It strikes me this morning that postcards are basically an early Tweet. At its 4” x 6” size and with an image occupying one side, a postcard limits you to scribbling a rather brief message. Granted, your message doesn’t need to be as succinct as 140 characters, but still it’s a far cry from the tomes you can write for full-blown letters.

Another similarity is the lack of privacy; Tweets are there for all to see. Likewise, postcards were set apart from other mail by their lack of privacy. After all, the postman and anyone who gathered your mail for you could have a glimpse at the handwritten note scrawled across a postcard.

I grinned like the Cheshire Cat when I drew these parallels today. But, it turns out I’m not all that original. Much to my dismay, when I decided to search whether anyone else had made similar connections, I found that hundreds had. Rather than blather on, feel free to read this 2009 piece, written by a journalist at The Daily Mail, in which she compares postcards from Edwardian times to Twitter.

Sending a postcard takes a bit more effort than Tweeting, but I for one appreciate it. How can you describe how good it feels to know that someone thought of you from afar, bothered to choose a postcard, purchase postage and pop the postcard into the mail? The simple one-word answer:

      AWESOME!

Bonus links

• For my family: Someone took the time to scan collections of vintage postcards from Hamilton. You’ll even find Dundas and Ancaster postcards, including a shot of St. John’s Anglican, in the “Towns and cities surrounding Hamilton” collection.
• For anyone who wishes to practice French: Cartolis presents the history of la carte postale.
• Kudos to staff at Veterans Affairs for building postcards into the 2011 Remembrance Day campaign. The federal department’s website encourages Canadians to print postcard templates and share messages about our war vets.