EXPLORING EDWARDIAN POSTCARDS – A TALK

 

What?            A 45-minute talk by Linda Clarke of Cheshire Archives and Local Studies

Where?         Nantwich Library, Beam Street, Nantwich

Why?              To promote access to visual images, held at Cheshire Archives and Local Studies,  to work alongside the exhibition entitled ‘Life in Cheshire East during 1910 – 1920’.

When?           Tuesday, July 14,  2015, from 2.30pm–4pm

DETAILS:

· Linda Clarke, Local Studies Advisor at the Cheshire Archives & Local Studies, Chester and expert on Edwardian and Victorian photographs will present the talk;

· FREE Talk, accompanied by light refreshments (tea/coffee, biscuits) and an opportunity to visit the exhibition;

· Held at Nantwich Library, Beam Street, Nantwich, which has just gone through a programme of refurbishment for the benefit of local residents;

· The talk will look at the history of the picture postcard in the Edwardian period 1901 – 1910.  This was the heyday for communicating by post and an estimate of the number of these sent in the UK is 5,920,933,334 – a massive number!;

· Cities had nearly 10 deliveries a day, so sending a postcard was a very efficient means of communication;

· The boom came to an end after the First World War, when people and businesses started to communicate by telephone;

· The legacy is a tremendous number of picture postcards, some posted, others collected in albums, for use to enjoy and which reflect upon the history and social attitudes of the period;

· Cheshire Archives and Local Studies holds a large number of picture postcards of landscapes, places, people, soldiers, buildings & novelty cards – some of which can be viewed on the Cheshire Image Bank at www.cheshireimagebank.org.uk ;

· The photographs in the exhibition have been drawn from the collections held at Cheshire Archives and Local Studies and Cheshire East Libraries.  The digitisation was funded by Cheshire East Council through its commemorative programme, ‘Cheshire East Reflects’ and more than 3,000 photographs and postcards have been digitised and added to the Cheshire Image Bank, the free online website of images of Cheshire’s past.  The exhibition uses some of the best of these pictures from across the borough to reflect what life was like for residents in the early years of the decade, the war years and the post-war period.  The images illustrate activities such as work and leisure, buildings which survive or are long gone, and the attitudes and politics of the time.

· The exhibition will run from the afternoon of Monday July 6 to Saturday July 18 during normal library opening hours, and can be accessed permanently on the Cheshire Image Bank at www.cheshireimagebank.org.uk

· Contact Nantwich Library on 01270 375361 or email nantwich.library@cheshireeast.gov.uk  for further details.  The Cheshire East Reflects website can be viewed at http://cheshireeastreflects.com/