Wednesday primary source #16 - Postcards!

As people are getting ready to go away for the summer, I thought that it would be fun to bring your attention to some of the postcard collections that we have here in the library. They provide great images of the places, people, and historical perspectives of the times. Sadly, this is one source that is probably on its way out, disappearing in the age of email, text messages, and Skype.

• Chocolat Suchard (Paris). Nos belles colonies : album of trading cards, "collection coloniale," ca. 1935.

• 300 cards in special Suchard album with introductory text and advertising. Includes photographs of Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco,Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Haute Volta, Mauritania, Sudan, Niger, Gabon, Congo, Tchad, Madagascar, Iles Comores, La Reunion, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Martinique, St Pierre et Miquelon, French Guiana, Cameroun, and Togo. There are 4 pages of advertising for Suchard products and 6  pages of text about the French colonies.
• Special Collections MISC 1228

• Belgian Congo : postcard collection, c.1909-1914. 50 cards, Belgian Congo postcard collection in album.
• Special Collections MISC 1341

• Colonial Africa : postcard collection, ca. 1880-1980.

• Finding aid available online  :
• http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0p3009t5 
• 1.5 linear ft. (3 manuscript boxes; ca. 1000 cards total)
• Usually French photographers of French Africa. Three different accessions purchased from same dealer, although previous provenance is mixed. Some cards are written on; some not.
• Special Collections M0814, boxes 1-3                   

• French Colonial Africa. Christian missionary postcard collection, ca. 1922-1959. 
• Cards portray primarily Catholic missions in French colonial Africa, but not exclusively. Some are Italian, particularly for the Missioni della Consolata.
• Special Collections M1602, boxes 1-2

• Paris après le siège et la Commune : postcard collection, 1870-1871. 
• Primarily reproductions of photographs; also including reproductions of artwork. In two numbered sets, with additional unnumbered individual items.
• Special Collections MISC 675

• Vietnam. The Ye^n The^þ Uprising, 1884-1913 :  20 postcards, 1888-1909. Pierre Dieulefils, photographe-editeur de cartes postale d'Indochine.
• Special Collections MISC 1433