A new book of vintage postcards
If you know my work, you
know I love old postcards. Well, I have some that I can never cut up for
art projects because they are family heirlooms.
It’s unusual to have an intact scrapbook filled with nearly 400
postcards sent to one person a century ago.
That scrapbook belonged to my great grandmother.
In 1907 she was 13, the oldest of ten children, and had to
leave school to help support her large family. As a young woman, she held a
number of different jobs and her circle of friends grew. She kept in touch with friends and family
through postcards. One hundred years
ago, one of the fastest and cheapest ways to communicate was to send a
postcard. You could send quick messages,
a happy birthday, corny jokes, make plans and even flirt. At the time, young people were using
postcards very much like email and texting is used today.
Now I am turning that scrapbook into a book called Helen’s
Postcards. Anyone who enjoys old
postcards will obviously appreciate the book.
The book will also be a document of the lives of young, working class women
in the 1910’s. It will offer a glimpse
into the world of Polish and German immigrants in Buffalo, New York. It has the stories of young men going off to
war, some matchmaking and even a hint of romance. And some of the postcards are just plain funny.
The finished book will be full color, soft cover and about
65-70 pages. The book will contain
images of many of the best postcards.
The messages written on the backs of some of the postcards will be
transcribed and annotated with stories and background about my grandmother and
her friends and family
The only way to make the book affordable and accessible is
to print many copies at once. I have
started a Kickstarter
campaign with that will guarantee every supporter gets a copy Helen’s
Postcards. When you support the campaign and pre-order the book, you will
be helping to finance the entire project and will allow for an even larger
printing. Your generosity can help make Helen’s
Postcards happen.
You can learn a little more about the project
at helenspostcards.com
Here is the link for the Kickstarter campaign:
Wow!!!! How cool is that????? No wonder you love postcards -- it's in your genes.
ReplyDeleteOk, Tofu -- I put it on my own FB page and my blog's FB page -- and i signed up -- hope that helps out. Looks like the book is going to be fabulous. I remember you were just telling me about it at the last co-op meeting. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteA nice article about the project on Buffalo Rising: http://buffalorising.com/2015/02/helens-postcards/
ReplyDelete