Did You Get My Postcard? | Immediacy, Intimacy & the Time/Space Compendium of Remediated Semi-Public Correspondence
Regular readers of A Canadian Family know that I began collecting vintage postcards as a means of enriching and extending my own understanding of the local and social histories that are part of my family’s personal history. In fact, the Festival of Postcards was first conceived as a collaborative effort by family history bloggers to encourage the use of postcards as a visual resource, but morphed into a Festival of family historians and deltiologists and we all benefited from the mix. The Festival is in hiatus at the moment but I’ve come across a postcard-related blog that is one of the best I’ve seen in awhile so I’d like to share it with you right now.
“Did you get my postcard?” serves as a public platform for an interesting project by a group of graduate students in media studies at Montreal’s Concordia University. It’s built around Dave’s private postcard collection. These researchers started from the premise that private collections can be mined for their “personal, historical, geographic and autobiographical potential”. They designed a project where they would experiment with the combination of a traditional medium (postcards) with modern technology. The technical term for this is remediation and an example would be the posts which combine Dave’s postcards with audio tracks.
Family historians may want to take a look at that use of technology as well as the “Where On Earth?” section which uses Google Maps to portray the places where the postcards originated. Others may be more interested in the section on digital postcards and the use of postcards to promote social justice. Read more »
Index: Festival of Postcards
An online showcase of the best postcards in the blogosphere!
Ed. Evelyn Yvonne Theriault
The Festival of Postcards was a collaborative effort by almost 100 family history bloggers and deltiologists who gathered together every few months to share postcards organized around a central theme. Due to lack of time, I’ve had to suspend the Festival temporarily but you can still visit the first 8 issues below.
Geo
the geography of our planet through images and cartography.
Light
de-light-ful postcards featuring night-time views – artificial and natural – as well as
cards with a twist on the theme
White
dozens of postcards depicting a wide range of subject matter such as: buildings, Christmas, food, landscapes, people, snow, ice and water. Read more »
Montreal’s Royal Victoria Hospital
My first child – a daughter – was born at Montreal’s Royal Victoria Hospital in the mid ’80s. Read more »
Index: Vintage Postcards of Gaspesie-Iles-de-la-Madeleine
Traditional Rural Life of the Gaspesie
Series: The Outdoor Bread Ovens of Quebec (1/7) | Introduction
Series: Outdoor Bread Ovens Of Quebec (2/7) | The Old Oven, Murray Bay, Quebec
Series: Outdoor Bread Ovens Of Quebec (3/7) | Open Air Bake Oven, Gaspe Read more »
Index: Vintage Postcards Of The City Of Montreal
Montreal Buildings
Entertainment (including leisure, museums & special attractions)
M.A.A.A. (Montreal Amateur Athletic Association) Club House – Peel Street
New Midgets Palace (Pt.1/3) | Count and Countess Nicol of Montreal
Winter Carnival, The Ice Palace, 1880s
Government buildings (health, education, legal)
Hospital – Royal Victoria Hospital
Royal Victoria College (Mc Gill Women’s University) newly indexed
L’Universite de Montreal – An Aerial View newly indexed
Hotels and train stations
Restaurants
Astor Restaurant, Bar And Cocktail Lounge
Cordner’s Cafeteria – A Real Good Place To Eat!
Dunn’s Delicatessen | Famous Smoked Meat And Strawberry Cheese Cake
Traymore Restaurant, Montreal, Ste-Catherine St.
Retailers
T. Eaton Company on Ste-Catherine St.
Pharmacie Montreal – Introduction
Pharmacie – Montreal – Pharmacy (2/3)
Pharmacists At Work – Montreal Pharmacy (3/3)
Other
Montreal Churches
Notre Dame Church with horse-drawn carriages
St-James Cathedral (now known as Mary, Queen of the World)
St.Joseph’s Oratory (Oratoire) – The Crypt, Montreal
St. Joseph’s Oratory (Oratoire) – The Front Gate
St.Joseph’s Oratory (Oratoire) – An Artist’s Rendering
Montreal Parks
Dominion Park Fairground – ca. 1907
Dominion Park, Montreal (1907) View of Roller Coaster
Fletcher’s Field (now Parc Jeanne Mance) | Military Review (1914?)
Mount Royal Park Lookout (Observatoire de Mont-Royal)
Mount Royal Park – Tobogganing
Vive Le Vent! – Tobogganing (prob. Mount Royal Park)
Mount Royal Park, 1910 | Pastoral Scene With Children
Mount Royal Park Lookout (Observatoire de Mont-Royal)
The Tornado Miniature Train On Mt. Royal Lookout | (ca.1970)
The Mount Royal Cross – Night View, Montreal
Montreal’s Mount Royal Elevator | Postmarked 1913
Montreal Squares and Places
Dominion Square | Montreal In The Time Of Tramways
Victoria Square, Montreal | Early 20th century (?) scene with horse-drawn carriages
Place Viger At The Turn Of The 20th Century | Montreal Tramways
Place Viger Hotel and Canadian Pacific Railway Station
Montreal Streets
Montreal Ice Shove on Commissioner St.
Scenes of St-Catherine Street (1/10) Montreal, Quebec
Scenes of St-Catherine Street (2/10) Montreal, Quebec
Scenes of St-Catherine Street (3/10) Montreal, Quebec
Scenes of St-Catherine Street (4/10) Montreal, Quebec
Neon Signs / Modern Times on Montreal’s St-Catherine Street
Harry Houdini, St-Catherine St. & The Prince Theatre
Montreal Trams on St-Catherine St. facing “The Main”
St-Jacques/St.James Street | Montreal In The Time Of Tramways
Montreal’s Skyline
The British Red Ensign Flys Over Montreal
Montreal on the water
Montreal from St. Helen’s Island – View of Shipping
Bridges To Montreal Island (1): Honore Mercier Bridge, Quebec
Bridges To Montreal Island (2): Jacques Cartier Bridge
Bridges To Montreal Island (3): Victoria Jubilee Bridge, Montreal, Quebec
Bridges To Montreal Island (4): Victoria Jubilee Bridge, 1905
Bridges To Montreal Island (5): The Irish And The Queen Victoria Bridge
C.P.R. Railroad bridge – Lachine to Kahnawake
Montreal Harbour | Montreal’s Floating Dry Dock, Duke of Connaught
Montreal Harbour | Grain Elevator (Steamer discharging)
Montreal Harbour | Grain Elevator, Montreal Harbor
Montreal Harbour | Montreal’s Ocean Harbour
Montreal from St. Helen’s Island – View of Shipping
Happy 5oth Birthday – St-Lawrence Seaway!
Allan Line Wharf In The Early 20th century New
Index: Vintage Postcards of Quebec
St-Jovite in the Quebec Laurentians – a vintage postcard
St-Jovite, Quebec – La Rue Principale
When I was growing up in Quebec in the 1950s/60s, Read more »
Call For Submissions: Festival of Postcards (9th Ed.) – Locomotion
An online showcase of the best postcards in the blogosphere!Ed. Evelyn Yvonne Theriault
It’s Festival Time Again!
The next edition of A Festival of Postcards is dedicated to LOCOMOTION, so this is your chance to pull out all those postcards depicting travel on land, water or air.
Or – feel free to interpret the theme as creatively as you wish (e.g. the Light issue included light-hearted and light-of-my-life) cards.
Altered mail art or original mail art that incorporates, or is inspired by postcards, is also most welcome.
How To Enter (Deadline: August 20th, 2010)
1. Go to A Festival of Postcards Official Form, hit the SUBMIT button at the top of the page and fill in the form! Read more »
A Festival of Postcards (8th Ed.) – GEO
An online showcase of the best postcards in the blogosphere!Ed. Evelyn Yvonne Theriault
* * *
Welcome to the Festival of Postcards (8th Ed.) – GEO – featuring dozens of entries that depict the geography of our planet through images and cartography. As always, participating bloggers come from a variety of backgrounds. Many specialize in the collection and study of postcards, others use postcards to enhance their historical or socio-cultural research interests and finally, there are a few who showcase their altered mail art. What unites us all is our love and appreciation for postcards!
Our Feature Article for this issue is - It’s A Small World After All - and I’m sure you’ll appreciate the way Caroline Pointer uses several “geographically inspired” ideas and metaphors to reexamine the worlds of genealogy and postcards from a fresh perspective. Caroline is well-known in the family history and genealogy communites for her storytelling skills. You can sample her work at Family Stories and as well as at her other blogs - Family Stories in Stone and Texas Family Stories.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
FEATURE ARTICLE
Caroline Pointer | Family Stories
(excerpt) Have you ever heard or used the term, “worlds apart”? It’s usually used to indicate how far apart two people’s lives, ideas, beliefs, faith, etc. are from one another. Before I started researching my family’s genealogy, I thought I was “worlds apart” from other people. I thought I was not really connected to much ~ not to other people nor to history. Nothing. Oh, I knew who my family was [mostly], but not where my family fit into things. Where I fit into things. Now, I know. Genealogy has become sort of a map for me …..
Leo Schifferli | Postcardiness
23 Skidoo – The Flatiron Building – New York City
(excerpt) The metaphorical intersection of architecture, idiomatic phraseology, and – at least to some extent – postcards, all converged on the geographic intersection of Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and 23rd Street in New York City in the very early 1900s to produce what some lexicographers consider to be the first fad phrase to sweep the entire nation: “23 skidoo”
Susan | This Old Paper: Curious Things That Are Flat
(excerpt) Of all the postcards in the Schifferli postcard albums, this one is a perfect match for the current A Festival of Postcards (8th Ed.): Geography theme – with a genealogical twist! On the front is featured Gruss aus Dottingen Aargau, Switzerland. My paternal German-speaking ancestors were from the city of Dottingen in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland!
Mandy Collins | Pearl Maple
(excerpt) This month’s theme in the Carnival of Postcards is geography so I have included maps, lots of maps and even a little postage stamp with a globe on it. Here are the first few pages, keep checking back for updates as more pages are added. And as always, I confirm for my postcard & stamp collecting friends, all materials have been checked for significance before being altered. Read more »
MAJOR INDEXES
VINTAGE POSTCARDS
Index: Vintage Postcards – Quebec
Index: Vintage Postcards – New Brunswick
Index: Vintage Postcards – Assorted
GENEALOGY
Index: Quebec & New Brunswick Cemeteries
New cemeteries – Val Brillant & Grande-Riviere
Index: Kahnawa:ke & the Iroquois | QC/ON
Recently updated
Index: Early French Canadian Pioneers
Newly updated with surname variations
Index: Theriaults | France – Acadie – NB – QC
Index: Mignier Lagaces | France – QC – NB
Index: Legers | France – Acadie - QC – NB
Index: Luces | Channel Islands – QC
Index: Evelyn in Montreal
Updating
*
Index: Recent Family History
-
YOUR COMMENTS
steve lemire on General Index: The Iroquois of… Evelyn Yvonne Theria… on General Index: The Iroquois of… steve lemire on General Index: The Iroquois of… Shelly on General Index: The Iroquois of… Evelyn Yvonne Theria… on A Canadian Family Headstone: A… steve lemire on General Index: The Iroquois of… Jacques Orsali on A Canadian Family Headstone: A… Angela Gonneau on A Canadian Family M-Line: Evel… Angela Gonneau on A Canadian Family M-Line: Evel… Angela Gonneau on From Lisbon to La Nouvelle Fra… Peter W. Coutu on History Of Kahnawake | Links T… R Pouliot on Kahnawa:ke – Home of the… R Pouliot on Kateri Tekakwitha – Her … Kevin John Parrish on Index Cemeteries Valerie Legge on Welcome – Soyez Les…
