Greetings From the Past

This card is dated 21/12/1905. I love that the birthday message was carried entirely on the front, and the sender (whose name I cannot distinguish) writes ‘Do you still collect pictorial postcards?’ all over the picture!I have finally found a pleasing background for my random poems – vintage postcards! Though postcards seem as ephemeral as the magazines I have cut words from, they have stood the test of time: many of them are over one hundred years old. The people who wrote and received them are long dead, and it seems a fitting tribute to use their greetings and remembrances as a background for poetry.

The reverse of the card above.The original ‘found poems’ I created were pasted into a book, but I discovered, many years later, that the glue I used had turned a dark yellow and utterly destroyed the paper. I scanned them all in and cleaned them up – a daunting task. (Note: Any collage artists out there – don’t use the traditional rubber cement; it is not archivally sound; a simple glue stick would be better.)

Originally I wanted to create a real collage and stick the words onto the vintage postcards; create a whole new piece of art (hardcopy as opposed to digital). But now that I have bought them and admired their poignant and faded beauty, and exclaimed over the elegant handwriting, I am loathe to deface them. They have lasted this long – when perhaps they might have been put in the trash – so I cannot bear to cover them up with words snipped out of Vogue and Elle magazines.

Here are a couple for you to admire, front and back. 

This wonderful card, posted from Uruguay in 1905, still bears traces of glitter attached to the girls’ outfits.The card (above) was addressed to Mademoiselle Amandita Ambrosani (how lovely!) in Salto. I do hope that minimal address enabled the postman to find her.