New York State Postcards

By Susan Deer, Associate Librarian, Head of Tech Services, New York State Historical Association Library

The NYSHA Research Library’s “New York State Postcards Collection” has quietly been growing over the past 60+ years, to its current size of 22,800 postcards, contained in 12 cubic feet of cabinet space. Postcards are often overlooked as a source of historical documentation.

Library volunteers, Lu Gotti and Richard Johnson, have worked since last year inventorying the collection so that an accurate description could be entered into Pathfinder (our web-based catalog) and WorldCat (an international online catalog).

Descriptions of the NYS Postcards can be seen here, then search under the SUBJECT: postcards new york state. Better yet, come to the Special Collections Reading Room on the 3rd floor of the library to see the entire collection and search for a topic of interest to you. A library staff person will be there to assist you.

Here are a few examples of digitized postcards from the collection: