Friday, January 15, 2010

Art of the Postcard

Some of you may have heard about the global call for postcards by the Postmaster in Cornelius, Oregon.  Cornelius is a small town in western Oregon, surrounded by farmland. The countryside is really beautiful, but it seems that there are no postcards of Cornelius, at least not yet.

Kerry, the Postmaster, put out this call for postcards from all over the world. In return, he offered to reciprocate with a postcard from Cornelius once they made one and had it printed. He expected to get 40 or 50 cards. Instead he got about 500, and they are now on display in the post office. We decided to take a drive out there and see it for ourselves. What an incredible variety of postcards, many beautiful ones, some funny ones, and mailed from all over the world. It really makes you smile.

I am delighted that a Postmaster would have the initiative and the imagination to undertake something like this. I have never seen anything like it in a post office and I have to wonder why. Post offices are usually cold and impersonal places (the decor, though not necessarily the staff), but yet they are also central hubs of the community. They just don't act like it.

I can't think of a more effective way to stimulate interest in sending mail. And yet it's ironic that this event was largely publicized through social media and online venues, the very things that threaten the existence of real mail. It's sort of like promoting reading with television ads. Anyway, it worked.

Here are a few more pictures of  the display, including my favorite card with a stenciled likeness of Elvis (the other side was equally beautiful.)


And here's the Postmaster himself. What a great guy! You can find out more about the history of this project by clicking on The Art of the Postcard.

15 comments:

  1. Hey! I put a link to this project on my blog - then I forget to send him a postcard!!! Actually I glad to see this post, and see how it turned out.

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  2. Thanks for sharing this, Christine. I love the way they are linked together with paper clips for display. The postmaster looks happy in the photo there!

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  3. Howdy
    Happy PFF to you .
    This was simply fantastic .
    Thank you so much for sharing the information here.
    I really enjoyed this post !
    Have a wonderful weekend.
    Happy Trails

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  4. Christine this is such a great article!
    I actually had prepared something about this project for the last White Festival, but in the end I had eliminated it for lack of space.
    I'm glad I did because now you've written this great article so I'll put a link to your post in the next issue in the Art section!
    Have a nice day!

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  5. What a fun thing! Must be an interesting guy to undertake this project and I am happy for him that it grew so big.
    Thanks for stopping by and come back any time.
    Cheers ;-)

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  6. What a great story... love it. What an wonderful collection. PFF
    thanks for stopping by and checking out my card!

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  7. This is a wonderful post. I knew about the project and mentioned it in my blog, but how great to see all the cards that have been sent! I did send one but I think I forgot to add my address.

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  8. THis is such a wonderful story !!
    Thank you for posting this on your blog.
    What a awesome project !!

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  9. Woah! This is a great display! thanks for bringing this to our attention!

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  10. I have one of my postcards in the exhibit and I love reading his blog. And now I have this blog for my daily read!

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  11. Das ist wirklich Klasse.
    Ich lese das die Austellung seit dem 11. Januar läuft. Ich wünschte, ich hätte davon früher erfahren, ich hätte auch eine Karte geschickt.
    Danke für diesen schönen Artikel.
    Have a great sunday.
    Janine

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  12. Love hearing stories like this one.

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  13. Thanks for coming out to see us! It has been a great experience for everyone. Just getting to meet the people who have sent cards has been amazing!

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