Send Me a Postcard!

The first commercial postcards produced in the U.S. were sold at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago Illinois. Since then, postcards can be found at almost any retail enterprise in a vacation spot, be it gift shops, variety stores, drug stores, newsstands, motel or hotel lobbies. Before adequate maps, or travel guides existed, picture postcards offered tourists the “sights,” scenic opportunities and landscapes to seek out.

People often want to send "back home" a picture and brief message of where they've been and what they've seen. Many travelers buy a postcard now and then; young and old, men and women. Some other forms of keepsakes, travel and tourism ephemera consists of materials both informational and commemorative in nature: booklets, pamphlets, flyers, souvenir prints, programs, advertisements, brochures, maps, menus, stamps, currency, and buttons.

Elise Hay Golden (1894-1988)

Elise Hay Golden family postcards and letters, 1900s-1990s, bulk 1900-1919

Elise Hay Golden was an SMU professor of music from 1922-1957. This collection of postcards reflects primarily the travels of Elise Hay Golden throughout the United States, Europe, Russia, South Africa, South America and Australia. Other family members also contributed to the collection from their trips. Many of the postcards have messages to family members and were sent as a “round robin.” Frances Golden Ware was the last to receive the cards and was admonished to save everything.

DeGolyer Library, Manuscript Collection, A2001.2258

Gift, Frances Golden Ware, 2001

[Collection of automobile postcards]

1906 - 1980

This collection contains twentieth century postcards of automobiles representing almost every decade. Some postcards contain handwritten messages and postmarks

DeGolyer Library, Prints and Photographs, Ag2021.1513

Purchase, 2021