Vintage Southern Postcards

Long before smart phones and even before color photography became commonplace, “linen” postcards were the original social media. Printed on textured paper with bright inks, they cost a penny a piece and became so popular in the 1930s ’40s that American travelers snapped up nearly a billion of them. For the first time, they could easily share an image of moss-draped oaks in North Carolina, a dark passage in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave, or a sweeping vista from Lookout Mountain in Tennessee with friends and family back home. A new book, Postcard America, by collector and University of Texas professor Jeffrey L. Meikle, showcases more than 200 of these iconic souvenirs—in all their colorful nostalgia.