The Penny Postcard

The story of this hall

In March 1907 the Post Office finally allowed a written message on the left half of a postcard's back, and America went wild. Within a year the mails carried the better part of a billion cards - Main Streets, courthouses, trolley parks, hotel porches - each one a town holding itself up to the light. The messages were nothing and everything: arrived safe, wish you were here, look at our new depot. For a penny, distance shrank to a picture and one line. Nearly every American shoebox still holds a few. This hall holds hundreds, and like the cards themselves it goes nowhere in particular: when you reach the last rack, turn around and come back - arrived safe, wish you were here.

1898–1918