[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Greeting cards



        I can think of several reasons why a collection might want to save
cards- or why researchers might be interested in them.  Please note that
these ideas come mainly from research projects that people I know have
conducted- not with greeting cards but with other popular forms of visual
media.  It seemed to me that these questions/ideas could certainly extend
to cards.

Reasons for saving greeting cards collections:

1. Value as a collection (there are people who collect such things, just
as they collect stereocards, postcards and ad cards)

2. Information on family ties for people investigating his family- who
sent cards?  For which occasions?  Who spent more money? What can we
infer about family structure from these behaviors? What if a family
member stopped sending cards?

3.  Social behaviors- for what sorts of occasions did people send cards?

4. Art and graphic arts history- what sort of images were popular at a
particular time?  How did graphic arts change over the course of a
lifetime?

5. Graphic arts and social history (already touched on by one respondent)-
 what do popular images tell us about fads in society?

6. Graphic arts and social history- what do popular images say about
values or prejudices?  How does society construct a sense of taste and
decide what images are attractive or appropriate?  How does society
depict minorities?  Women?

There probably are many other reasons as well.

Nina Stoyan-Rosenzweig
Archivist, College of Medicine
Adjunct Assistant Professor, History Department
University of Florida

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>