Nostalgia: "Before You Were Here" Vintage Postcards and Capturing the Spirit of a Place

The Sea Island Casino, vintage postcard roughly 1940/50s

History fascinates me as much as paper nostalgia, especially vintage postcards, which is one of the reasons I started The Paper Compass.  When someone speaks about history, I am all ears.  When I travel, I often read up on the location, my curiosity driven by questions such as how did this place come to be? What did the people who shaped it see and think and do?  This is why, very naturally, and gradually over the course of the last two decades, I have unsurprisingly found myself a collector of vintage postcards.

My first vintage postcard set the trend.  I found it in a thrift store in Lake Worth, Florida my senior year in high school.  It was a view of Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, looking towards the Boston Public Garden from Kenmore Square, with a statue rising out of a fountain as the foreground focal point.  I bought it with the romantic notion of finding the scene featured once I arrived at Boston University, and I pasted it to my new dorm room filing cabinet.  As synchronicity would have it, “the end” of the Commonwealth mall, part of The Emerald Necklace, was about two blocks away from my dorm.  I recognized the statue one evening after leaving my friend’s apartment in The Braemore.  It was smaller than I thought it would be, the fountain was dry, and the grandeur of the view was marred by the overpass to Storrow Drive.  But I had found it!  I was captivated by the fact that this view of the city was still there 70+ years later.  So began the trend of collecting vintage postcards of places that I wanted to visit, dreamed about (the original Coney Island), or had been.

My recent travels (the inspiration for my last post) took me to back to Georgia’s Golden Isles, where I consistently visited my grandparents, once a year, for the first 25 years of my life.  My memories of time spent on Sea Island, at the hotel, The Cloister, located there, and also on St. Simons run vivid and deep.  They are some of my most favorite memories with my family and of my childhood.  And because time always marches on, so many of the locations, are truly that now—just memories. 

The courtyard of The Cloister roughly 1930/40s--you can
still see the wilderness of the island off in the far distance

Built in the 1920s by famous Florida architect Addison Mizner, The Cloister, a casino, a pool and a resort, soon became the summer haunt of Atlantians, and some of Hollywood’s and Washington’s rich and famous.  The hotel (and island community) survived The Great Depression by printing their own money.  After WWII the hotel continued to expand, and by the time my childhood memories of Sea Island and The Cloister began it had grown into a thriving resort and cottage community.  So highly was it regarded, along with the beauty of the island, that The Cloister hosted the 30th G8 summit there in 2004.  After that, the hotel decided to expand, to upgrade and improve.  The original Mizner hotel was torn down, a new hotel built with more modern amenities and better views.  Next, the original Beach Club was torn down, a new pool area built (minus diving boards—too much of a liability).  And, last but not least, a gate house was built so that only those with special access can get on the island.  Everything that was once there is completely razed.  Everything is new.  Modernized.  In what feels like having a waking dream, everything there is inspired by the same rooms, hallways, pool decks, and dining areas that came before it—so that it seems familiar, smells the same—but doesn’t feel right. 

The new hotel and beach club are truly beautiful.  Like something out of Architectural Digest.  In some cases I will agree that it is “improved.”  My memories, though, are of a place that was much more fun, full of traditions but also casual.  Inviting.  Which is why the two vintage postcards featured here are some of my collection favorites.  They are of the Cloister before I ever knew it, but they feel familiar because the old hotel always had the glamour that is present in vintage postcards.  Even without a message they seem to say, Wish You Were Here—celebrating the golden age of an era when handwriting and postcards were as common as fingerbowls on the dinner table.

 

It is not easy to capture the spirit of a place.  Especially, its place in time.  But I find that if you look in the right places—such as a dusty box in the corner of an antique shop—you just may be able to find the vintage postcard that does. 

For fun: a 1980s postcard of the Beach Club
that looks like it came right out of my childhood memories

A postcard of architectural renderings of the "new" Cloister hotel

                        

Nostalgia: Vintage Easter Greetings

These wonderful vintage postcards are part of my Easter collection.  The pastoral and cheerful natural images heralding the return of spring in the illustrations make me happy, especially when it means saying good-bye to winter with flocks of fuzzy, newly hatched chicks.  

The hatching chick card (above) originally caught my eye for its elaborate embellishments.  The lovely celadon paper is engraved with lavender metallic ink with a scalloped and bordered edge.  There is also lovely embossing that frames the oval which contains the illustration, which is pasted onto the card.  Having worked in the stationery industry, I appreciate the complexities of these embellishments and their overall subtly.  While the back is inscribed in pencil, “With best wishes for Easter, from Peggy” it is mysteriously not printed for mailing.   

The gathering of chicks around a be-ribboned egg (above) is a postcard that I found in Germany during my visit there in March of 2009.  I discovered it at the same market that I mentioned in my last post.  One of the more interesting details is that the illustration is signed by the artist, something that you don't see too often.

Last but not least, I couldn’t leave out these wonderful Victorian vintage die-cuts of flowering spring wheel barrows.  I found these at one of my local antique haunts and was inspired to use them on some spring-themed decorative boxes I was making.

Just like these little wheel barrows, I hope your spring is off to a bountiful start! 

   

From a Stationery Store in the Heart of Boston, Remembrances of September 11th

I was not prepared for the events of the work day following 9-11. When you think about stationery, people tend to think letters, wedding invitations, birth announcements and other happy items. But paper plays an important role in all life occasions—including death.

The morning of September 11th, found me folding laundry and watching the CNN morning news on my day off from my job as a manager for Crane & Co. Paper Makers, a stationery store at that time located at the Prudential Center in the heart of Boston. As the first images of the devastation came on TV, I remember standing in front of the screen, a pillow case held mid-fold in disbelief, with the sinking sensation that something very serious was happening. Within minutes of the first tower being hit, the phone rang. It was the associate manager from the store, wanting to know if something important was going on as they had received a “stand-by for further announcements” automated message from the Prudential Center. It felt surreal to explain the stories coming in on the news and to tell them to hold tight and do exactly what the Prudential Center instructed them to, even if that meant locking up and closing the store for the day. Then, like everyone else, I was held a captive witness to the devastating images and news on TV.

For me, that was only the beginning of my experiences connected to September 11th. Strangely, by being in the stationery business, it was the days after September 11th that made the devastation and heartbreak human and personal.

On Wednesday, September 12th, I walked to work, like I did every morning, from the Fenway to The Prudential Center. The city was eerily subdued for a week day work morning. Sirens could be heard, which vividly evoked the sounds and images from the TV the day before. I felt filled with adrenaline. As I walked along the Christian Science Reflecting Pool, a fighter jet flew overhead toward the financial district, and in the fading of the defining and heart bounding roar, I remember thinking, nothing will ever be the same.

I was not prepared for the events of the work day following 9-11. When you think about stationery, people tend to think letters, wedding invitations, birth announcements and other happy items. But paper plays an important role in all life occasions—including death.

The first call I took that morning was from the newly widowed wife of one of the pilots killed in the hijackings. She was calling to order sympathy acknowledgement cards. Her voice held the contrasting notes of logical calm and bewilderment. Having lost my father only two months earlier, it was a combination I knew well from grief. At the end of the call, after giving me her address for shipping, she asked for all possible privacy to be taken with her information as so many people were contacting her. There are reporters in the front yard, she said. After the call, I walked quickly to the backroom, needing a moment off the floor, feeling breathless and holding back tears as I absorbed the reality, not of images on TV, but of the people whose lives were forever changed by the attacks.

The rest of that day, and the days that followed, were emotionally wrenching. Several of our corporate customers had lost employees in the hijacked flights that left Boston. We sold black leather bound guest books for memorials, black bound books for remembrances, black pens to sign them with, black bordered sympathy acknowledgements. There were many moments of standing in the backroom looking for a boxed product, trying to remember a SKU, and feeling heartbroken over the story of lost that you had just heard.

Each night that week, I would closed up the store and, beginning the walk home, marvel at the emptiness of the Prudential Center. It felt as though the city was under a self-imposed curfew. The beat of my shoes echoed as I walked through the empty corridors, which are usually always filled with a steady stream of people.

About two weeks after the attack, on the first day commercial planes were given permission to fly again, I was on my dinner break, at the long since gone, Sbarro pizza place in the Copely Mall. It was a favorite haunt of mine for the quiet, the pizza and the view of the skyline of South Boston. From where I sat, starring out at the cloudy twilight, I began to see the lights of planes lining up to land at Logan. This sight, and its normalcy, after so many days of horrific images, heartbreaking stories and uncertainty in the aftermath of the attacks, filled me with an overwhelming feeling of hope. To this day, I still remember how the line of planes coming in to land looked remarkably beautiful, like a loose string of shinning diamonds against the gray evening sky.

Letters, Part II: Inspiration for Writing Letters

“We know that all things of concern to us are of equal concern to Mary [the author of the letter], and though there will be nothing of it in actual words, we are made to feel that we are just as secure in our corner of Mary's heart as ever we were.” –Emily Post, Etiquette, from the section The Letter Everyone Loves to Receive

This past December, through a stroke of good luck, I found a copy of a wonderful little book called Frost’s Original Letter Writer. Published in 1867, the archaic volume was tucked sideways into a random bookshelf in one of the many generously merchandised booths of Black Diamond Antiques in Frackville, Pennsylvania. The slim and fragile book was held closed by a faded pink and lace ribbon and with one glance at the title, I knew that I had found a “diamond in the rough” for my small collection of books that inspire me towards letter writing.

There are many things that I find charming about my copy of Frost’s Original Letter Writer. At one time the book was the property of a “Master Boyd Cherry presented to him by his Uncle Alfred,” as indicated by the penciled inscription on the title page. The back cover reveals a long list of other publications which are advertised under the heading: “Good Books Sent Free of Postage at the Prices Marked” with titles such as: How to Shine in Society; Dick’s Quadrille Call-Book and Ball-Room Prompter; and Boxing Made Easy.

But what I like most about Frost’s Original Letter Writer (full title: Frost’s Original Letter Writer a complete collection of Original Letters and Notes Upon Every Imaginable Subject of Everyday Life, with Plain Directions about Everything Connected with Writing a Letter) is that it indicates that even in a time when letter writing was the accepted and popular (read: only) means of communication, that people still sought out inspiration and instructions on how to write a letter and/or respond to one.

In my last post, I wrote about the legacy that letter writing creates, and the fact that through emails, text messages, and many other forms of modern technology-driven communication, we have an everyday familiarity with the written word that can easily be translated to paper to build better relationships and make lasting impressions. Unlike the interruption of a phone call, letters and notes have the advantage of being a way to connect with people on their own time, creating space for communication within a busy schedule.

But what do you do if the idea of writing a letter is still intimidating?

The good news is that the antiquated volume of Frost’s Original Letter Writer is just one of many books on letter writing with advice, and sometimes the complete text, to help inspire your correspondence. Since my time at Crane & Co., I have collected books on letter writing and etiquette, both for inspiration as well as to satisfy my historical curiosity. Each of them has a special place in my heart, but all of them offer, in their own unique way, a perspective and advice on letter writing that encourages me to pick up my pen.

While also from an earlier era, one of my favorite inspirations for good form in my letter writing is the original 1922 version of Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage, by Emily Post. In this classic text, which is delightful to read due to Ms. Post’s straightforward advice and perspective, the author separates the basics of correspondence and “bread and butter letters” from “long letters,” giving each a unique chapter in the book.

It is in the chapter “Longer Letters” that she addresses the challenges of beginning a letter, and (one of my guilty correspondence sins) the fact that your response is usually is so long in being formulated that it must begin with an apology. Also in this chapter, the criminal classes of long letters are identified: Letters No One Cares to Read; Letters of Gloomy Apprehension; Letters of Petty Misfortunes; The Blank; The Meandering Letter; The Letter of Chronic Apology; The Dangerous Letter; The Letter that No Woman Should Ever Write, etc. Through these Emily Post illustrates not only ways to be aware of and avoid these letters, but on a deeper level identifies communication habits to steer clear of, whether it’s in a letter or verbal exchange.

Her best advice though comes in the section, The Letter Everyone Loves to Receive: “The letter we all love to receive is one that carries so much of the writer’s personality that she seems to be sitting beside us, looking at us directly and talking just as she really would, ….There is a great deal in the letter about [the author], not only about what she has been doing, but what she has been thinking, or perhaps feeling. And there is a lot about us in the letter—nice things that make us feel rather pleased about something that we have done, or are likely to do, or that some one has said about us.”

While I have a strong affection for the advice of the past, I am also a modern girl with a blog, a huge stash of stationery, and a busy schedule. The book that I turn to the most to inspire sitting down to my correspondence is The Pleasures of Staying in Touch: Writing Memorable Letters by Jennifer Williams. The book meditates on the joys of receiving a letter through quotes and stories as well as provides inspiration on social correspondence.

My favorite chapter is Staying in Touch with the World: Letters of Admiration, Letters of Complaint, Letters to Magazines, Alumnae Newsletters and More. In this chapter, the notion of writing letters is moved beyond the social bread-and-butter correspondence or the romantic long letter, to focus on letters that are often over looked when we think of letter writing: Public Letters. These are letters to public figures, editors, or authors, that allow you to give voice to an opinion, participate in a dialogue, and “stake your claim” in the world. “The expression of a personal opinion is just as important an act of connection as it is to vote…No matter how elusive or complex a public concern or debate may be, it always helps to ‘put a human face’ on it,” Williams writes.

Writing a letter has many benefits, from expressing your feelings to capturing a moment in time. Whether you want to turn to the pages of a book to jump start your prose, or you feel compelled to check your form, I hope that you will feel inspired to sit down to a blank stationery sheet and let someone know you are thinking of them.

A Little Extra:
• Pleasurable letter writing begins with stationery that makes you feel good: Pick a box of stationery based on your writing style. Sheets for longer letters and cards and notes for thank you’s and shorter correspondence.
• Penmanship is often in the pen: Writing is easy when you have a pen that suites your style. Fountain pens with gold nibs offer the smoothest writing experience by gently shaping themselves to your grip and pressure on the paper. Rollerballs are a good choice for travel and smooth writing. Ball points and pencils should be avoided for letter writing, as they can cause hand fatigue and not look as polished.
• Personal correspondence is personal: Don’t feel that your letter needs to be stuffy in tone or look. Choose from many colors of stationery, inks, and other accessories that reflect your style.
• Practice: For important letters, write out a draft of what you are going to say before putting pen to paper.
• Converse: As Emily Posts says, the best letters are like a conversation. Always keep your recipient in mind.
• Resources: In addition to the very small (and dated) assortment of books mentioned above, there are some great current resources such as the new version of Emily Post's Etiquette; Crane's Blue Book of Stationery; The Art of the Personal Letter and many more.