How do you get more value out of your postcards? Make 'em twice as long and fold'em in the middle!
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| Reverse of double postcard instructing the sender to "put rubber-band around folded card" to hold it closed and informing the sender that the card could be mailed for "one cent postage all over the world." |
by John B. Green III
One of the things we miss here at the library are the regular visits of our friend Jim Hodges. Jim is the able curator of the New Bern Historical Society and always has something interesting to share with us. The pandemic has brought these visits to a temporary halt but with the library reopening in stages perhaps we'll see Jim in the not too distant future. In the meantime, since Jim has been having such a good time posting examples of the Historical Society's excellent postcard collection, we thought we'd join in the fun. Here are two unusual New Bern cards from our Julia Bishop Smallwood (Mrs. Roger) Wernicke Collection. These cards, which date from around 1910, are twice the length of regular cards and required folding in the middle in order to mail them. The extra length, though, allowed the creation of panoramic views - in this case a view of the 200 block of Pollock Street and a view of the city school yard on Hancock Street.
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| Panoramic view of the 200 block of Pollock Street looking west. Visible from left to right are an unidentified house, the Elks Temple Building (in distance), the U.S. Court House and Post Office (now City Hall), and the Hughes-Stewart House |
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| Detail of left side of above card |
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| Detail of right side of above card. |
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| Panoramic view of the 500 block of Hancock Street, west side, showing the city school grounds. Visible from left to right are the original Centenary Methodist Church, New Bern Academy, Second New Bern Academy, Moses Griffin Building, houses on Johnson Street, and the Pepsi-Cola headquarters and bottling plant. |
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| Detail of left side of above card. |
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| Detail of right side of above card. |
