Postcards That Captured America’s Love for the Open Road

My wife's grandmother recently passed away, and as part of cleaning out her apartment my father-in-law wanted to share with me his mom's collection of these postcards. There were about a hundred of them, all stacked together in a shoebox. Some had dates on them for when they were made (the oldest was from 1931 or '33, can't remember), others didn't.

I remember thinking how beautiful they were, how neatly the pages folded up and were clasped by the tab on the front. Inside, the descriptions of the places were as idyllic as the drawings--I have never been to Sioux City, Iowa, but the postcard certainly was persuasive!

It gave me a feeling similar to looking at the liner notes for vinyl albums--it truly felt like a quality keepsake, and I can understand why Gramma kept them rather than sent them.

Too bad that first post card showed niagara falls - Ew. It is the antithesis of the open road spirit