Deltiology

Deltiology (from Greek δελτίον, deltion, diminutive of δέλτος, deltos, "writing tablet, letter"; and -λογία, -logia) is the study and collection of postcards. Professor Randall Rhoades of Ashland, Ohio, coined a word in 1945 that became the accepted description of the study of picture postcards. It initially took about 20 years for the name to appear in a dictionary. Compared to philately, the identification of a postcard's place and time of production can often be an impossible task because postcards, unlike stamps, are produced in a decentralised, unregulated manner. For this reason, some collectors choose to limit their acquisitions to cards by specific artists and publishers, or by time and location.

There are some general rules to dating when a postcard was printed. Postcards are generally sent within a few years of their printing so the postmark helps date a postcard. If the card is original and not a reprint, a postcard's original printing date can be deduced from such things as the fashions worn by people in the card, the era in which the cars on the street were made, and other time-sensitive clues. Postcards produced by the Curt Teich Company can be dated more exactly if the stamp box on the reverse is visible, since the company printed a date code within the stamp box.

Picture postcards (PPCs) can be assigned to "the Golden Age of Postcards" (1898–1919), the time of the linens (circa 1930-1950), or to the modern chromes (after 1940). Modern chromes are color photographs and thus differ from generated from black and white photographs before ca. 1915. PPCs can also be differentiated on the basis of other features: undivided backs are typical for c1901-1906, and divided backs for c1907-1915, while white border cards are common from c1915-1930.

Postcards are collected by historical societies, libraries and genealogical societies because of their importance in research such as how a city looked at a particular time in history as well as social history. Many elementary schools use postcards to teach children geography. Postcard Penpal programs have been established to help children in language arts.

Deltiologists, as postcard collectors are called, collect for a variety of reasons. Some are attracted to the postcards themselves, then narrow down their interests. Others are interested in something in particular, such as ballet, then decide to collect ballet-related postcards as a way to augment their interest in ballet.

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Wikipedia