The Happy Invention: History & Significance of Picture Postcards

This event does not require registration.

The first picture postcards were published for the 1889 Paris Exposition, celebrating the completion of the Eiffel Tower. In America, the first picture postcards were printed for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago —making Illinois the birthplace of the American picture postcard.

Since those flowery Victorian originals, uncountable billions of postcards of every aspect of life have been printed, depicting train stations and bandstands, street views and cartoons, ads for products and services, ‘beauties’ and ‘freaks,’ social history both whimsical and dark, and everything in between. An early mention of postcards is in the 1870 diary of a Welsh curate, who called them “a happy invention.”

In 2016, the world’s largest public collection of postcards and related materials, the Curt Teich Postcard Archives, was given to the Newberry Library by the Lake County Forest Preserve District.
Katherine Hamilton-Smith, the founding curator of the Teich Archives, presents a look at the documentary, power, and significance of picture postcards. She touches on the Curt Teich Company of Chicago, the role Illinois played in the history and development of postcards, and the picture postcard as a cultural icon.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their family postcards/collections for review and comment. All ages are welcome. No registration is required.

Katherine Hamilton-Smith is a museum and archives professional with 30+ years of experience in public history, historic sites management, exhibitions and interpretation, collections development and care, National Historic Landmarks, and fundraising.

Katherine is the founding curator of the Curt Teich Postcard Archives Collection—a core collection of the Newberry Library, Chicago. Her work with the Teich Archives gave her special expertise in the history and significance of picture postcards. She holds an MA in Art History from the University of Chicago and a BA in Art History from the University of Nebraska and studied art history and music history at St. Andrews University in Scotland, where she specialized in early medieval manuscript illumination and American Abstract Expressionism.

For additional information, please contact Susan at susang@dkpl.org or at (815) 756-9568 ext. 2114.