Postcards
Postcards are artifacts of library history. Postcards started circulating in the 1860's and were extremely popular in America through World War I. These postcards varied from pictures of important landmarks, to public buildings, to images taken by local residents. The time that postcards were popular happens to coincide with the time where public libraries were being built across the country. Andrew Carnegie was helping to fund libraries of all sizes and many of these appeared on postcards. Libraries were a popular topic of the time. As travel was not as easy during this era, many travelers would take trips to towns nearby. One of the places often visited in these towns were libraries. Travelers would document these trips with postcards.
Although the following postcards can help us see how the Peru Public Library has changed over the years, there are some negatives to using postcards as historical artifacts. Many of the postcards shown here are not dated and the producer is unknown. Although the exact year the picture was taken is not known for some of these postcards, an attempt was made to place them in chronological order. This was done by looking at the size of the trees and changes to the building.
Postcards are artifacts of library history. Postcards started circulating in the 1860's and were extremely popular in America through World War I. These postcards varied from pictures of important landmarks, to public buildings, to images taken by local residents. The time that postcards were popular happens to coincide with the time where public libraries were being built across the country. Andrew Carnegie was helping to fund libraries of all sizes and many of these appeared on postcards. Libraries were a popular topic of the time. As travel was not as easy during this era, many travelers would take trips to towns nearby. One of the places often visited in these towns were libraries. Travelers would document these trips with postcards.
Although the following postcards can help us see how the Peru Public Library has changed over the years, there are some negatives to using postcards as historical artifacts. Many of the postcards shown here are not dated and the producer is unknown. Although the exact year the picture was taken is not known for some of these postcards, an attempt was made to place them in chronological order. This was done by looking at the size of the trees and changes to the building.