Vacation photographs take many forms and can be used in several ways. Landscape images and casual snapshots take their place side by side on living room walls and in the pages of photo albums. However, picture postcards—often appreciated more by the recipient than by the sender—contain just as many memories as images capturing the so-called "Kodak moment."

The picture postcard can serve many purposes: to let people back home know that a loved one has arrived at his or her destination safely, as a reminder of places visited and good times had, or to mark a special event. In the late nineteenth century, collecting postcards was a common hobby. These cards would often be preserved in elaborate albums. Postcards served as glimpses into places that some didn’t have the opportunity to visit, thus these images also had an educational purpose.

Postcards come in several different formats. The most common type of card is the halftone, a photomechanical process that allowed images to be replicated repeatedly. While this process created seemingly identical postcards, in the color half-tone process wide variations in color are found. Equally popular were "real photo" postcards. Images, utilizing standard photographic emulsions, are printed on postcard stock as opposed to regular photographic paper. These cards provided an inexpensive means of exchanging images and new between families.

The postcard collection housed in the photography department has grown steadily over the years, so much so, in fact, that it has outgrown its current storage area. Recently the photography department was awarded a grant by the Volunteers of the Colorado Historical Society to allow public access to a small portion of the collection. Over the coming year, staff and volunteers will begin reviewing the collection to assess the condition of the cards as well as inventory the holdings. In addition, the postcards will be sleeved in archival sheet protectors and placed in binders to allow for safe handling with minimal damage to the artifacts. The first section will be made available by summer 2004, and will include all postcards of Denver, from aerial views to street scenes. Further sections will be completed as funding becomes available.

By Karyl Klein, Curatorial