AKRON, Ohio — If you’re looking for a new hobby or just need a break from your devices, The University of Akron (UA) may have something for you. Its UA Post Card Club is making way for community members, students, staff, and faculty to come together by taking a step back in time through postcards.
“There’s a new mix of just the sort of random little interests that kind of drew people together and connected us… everyone who drops by seems to have some sort of postcard story…we meet once a month and we get together to talk about things related to postcards and we basically learn together,” said Jennifer Bazar, Assistant Director of the UA Cummings Center for the History of Psychology.
The niche group started just over a year ago. The group meets once a month to learn and bond over a massive collection created by psychologist, David P. Campbell.
“We have about a quarter million postcards that feature just about every topic you can think about,” Bazar said. “It’s actually the only collection we have in the building where our visitors can actually engage with the material directly. They can pull dividers off the shelves. They can route through the boxes and they can read the messages that were sent. They can see the pictures that were on the cards and sort of explore somebody’s collection that’s really an impressive collection.”
While many things go out of style, especially in a world of ever-changing technology, the joy from a postcard stands the test of time.
“In the early 20th century postcards were one of the most popular things to collect, to send, and ways of communicating. They were kind of the early social media,” Bazar said. “People are still making them. People are still sending them and I think you know sometimes we need to get off the devices and reconnect in a written form.”
For more information on the UA Post Card Club, click here.
