Festival of Postcards-8th Ed: Geography

The 8th edition of "Festival of Postcards" is calling for vintage postcards that depict some aspect of geography- maps, landmarks, and so forth. I immediately thought of where I would go for this one.

(click image to enlarge)

As shown above, I put together some of my STATE postcards and mounted them in a 24 x 36 inch poster frame. I tacked the project to the breezeway of my home so I could look at it every time I go out or enter the house. I tried to put the states into their relative position or locations in the United States: East, Middle, West. I will probably re-do the project some day because I have a few more states to add. You can see "California" was stuck under the edge of the frame in lower right-hand corner. I will have to open the frame and put the state in its relative position. Right below "Montana" (left side), you may be able to see the reverse of a card (stamped and sent from Nebraska, Spring 2005) to my friend telling her of my postcards idea:

"Dear Annie, One of the few things I dream about when I get back to my homey little nest is making a poster of all my state postcards. I believe most of my travels and adventures will now be limited to looking at the cards from my big green arm chair"

At the time, I was working a month-long contract as an instructor in radiation safety at the Fort Collins Nuclear Plant located on the Missouri River, near Blair, Nebraska. Actually, I have collected most of these cards while working at, or enroute to, jobs at nuclear power plants all over the States. Sometimes on my day off, I would browse antique stores and flea markets for vintage cards of the states, such as those shown in the close-up below. I believe the cards of Mississippi, Texas, and Tennessee (with scalloped edges) and a few others out of view could be considered vintage.

Some of the cards (in first image) like the one of the Great Smokey Mountains and one of the New River (in NC and VA) are close-ups of those particular areas. Many of the cards have pictures of landmarks or activities that are unique to that state which bring back memories to me of when I was there.

Incidentally, I am missing the states of Wyoming, Kentucky, Missouri, and Maine. So, if you have an inkling, please mail* me a card from these states and I will send you a "thank you" postcard from North Carolina (modern). Oh yes, I have been through these states. I even worked a contract at the former Maine Yankee Nuclear Plant- in January!

*Bob Kramp at 105 N. Westover Dr, Monroe, NC 28112

REFERENCES AND LINKS:

Postcard collectors and genealogists: Learn about the Festival of Postcards at the web site of our host, Evelyn Yvonne Theriault.

Often when I comtemplate extensive travels, I recall a song made popular by the country singer, Hank Snow, called "I've Been Everywhere". It was the genre's top single in 1962. Johnny Cash also recorded it. I discovered today that the song was originally written about Australian locations according to Wikipedia. By the way, never freely give out your mobile phone number or email with out thinking about it. Now, go to the American version of ... Everywhere and its impossible-to-remember verse lyrics.