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This collection contains 20th century postcards donated by Mr. Wendell Lorang in 2005. The collection is organized into five main categories –ocean liners, lake steamers, coastal steamers and ferries, United States Navy warships and battleships, sailors and shipboard activities, and Navy yards, ports and harbors. The postcards are from European countries and United States areas, and while not all of the Museum’s postcards went through the mail and include handwritten messages, many of them do, sharing their uniqueness as historical documents and voices of the past.
The collection covers four decades of communication by mail including their peak in popularity between 1907 and 1915, which was called the “Golden Age'' of the postcard. After 1907 the most notable change to the postcard’s design was the divided back. Before 1907, the back of the postcard was reserved for the address only; all messages were required to be written on the front along with the image. Messages could only be about a few words, or a full sentence if you could write small enough.
