When you collect anything, you soon find that you cannot remember what you already have. Acquiring duplicates is a frustration for every collector and has turned many into dealers just to shed them.

This frustration led to the decision to create a database of the collection. The purpose of the database was to produce a paper checklist easy enough to take to shows. We've met several collectors with lists of their cards, but none seemed to include enough information to avoid the dreaded duplicate.

As the database evolved, it took on a life of its own. In order to save space in the checklist, shorthand terms evolved (see "card descriptions" below). When a duplicate slipped through, a new piece of information was added to plug the hole. Then we decided to make a scan of the picture side of each card. So now the albums could be safely stored and a look through the collection became a matter of keystrokes.

But you can't lug a laptop to a postcard show and not every dinner guest wants to pour over the albums. As we both come out of the publishing industry with experience in database publishing on paper, we knew how cumbersome that route was. Internet publication was the solution. Hence this site.

CARD DESCRIPTIONS

The picture side of each card was scanned using an HP scanner. Many of the early scans show a brown line at the left, an unfortunate hangover from learning how to get a gang of cards to line up exactly vertical so they could be cropped quickly and put into the database.

The major elements of the checklist have been carried over to the website. The title of the card has been transcribed exactly. So has the publisher's statement, although "/" has been inserted where a new line started. When "#" or "No." came before the publisher's card number, we dropped them. The H or V that showed the card's orientation in the checklist was very useful for the web designer in creating the page layout.

The narrative description of the card in the checklist contains a description of the title - color and location in particular. We've dropped that for the website, since you can see it for yourself. Alas, our scanner has problems with small type sizes and type in red, so the title often does not show up well on the scans.

While the picture side is displayed, there is no scan of the back of each card. As most of the time that is where the publisher's statement and the card's number appear, it is important to have this information. The location of these two elements is part of the description of the card. The style of the back of the card (divided or undivided) and the publisher's serial number are separate elements in the checklist, and appear here separately as well.

Publishers have been creative with the backs of their cards from the beginning of picture postcards. While a few publishers gave no hint of themselves anywhere on the card (out of modesty or inexperience), most publishers used the backs to promote themselves. There is an entire website (here) devoted to the graphic design of the words "Post Card" on a card's back. And Albertype and Curt Teich among many others took advantage of the need for a dividing line between the message area and the address area on a divided back card to place their names. The description mentions these where they occur. We also include the color of ink used to print the back when it is other than black.

You will find here what seem to be duplicates. They aren't, because we collect publisher variants. Because negatives were often sold by one publisher to another, the publisher imprint differs. But it also seems true that images were just copied - that is, stolen. There is a scholarly vacancy waiting to be filled by someone with the time to review these cards to determine priority. We have a number of cards from different publishers that show the identical image but where one has continuous color (probably printed by stone lithography in Germany or Great Britain) and the others have a tell-tale dot pattern, showing that the image was printed using the halftone process.

DON'T STEAL THESE CARDS

WE WANT TO IMPROVE THE COLLECTION AND THIS SITE

We created this website for you to enjoy. As we get new cards, we will scan them and add them to the site. If you have a card or something else that you think we would like to add to the collection, please let us know. We respond quickly and will pay postage both ways if you will send on approval.

Our wants are simple:

We seek any view (both interior and exterior) in the form of a postcard, stereoview, magic lantern slide, or old photograph and meaningful ephemera with views, about

• Ossining, N.Y., including the Crotonville neighborhood
• Anything having to do with Brandreth Pills or Allcock Porous Plasters
• Any manufacturer of anything with an Ossining or Sing Sing, N.Y., address
• Sing Sing (both the Prison and the municipality of the same name, now known as Ossining)
• Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. and its Scarborough (Scarboro) neighborhood
• Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America) and Maryknoll Sisters (Order of St. Dominic), Maryknoll, N.Y.
• Millwood, N.Y.
• Croton-on-Hudson and Harmon, N.Y., the nearby Point Pleasant and Croton Point parks, and the Croton Dam
• Camp Edith Macy and Camp Andree, Girl Scout facilities oftentimes shown in Pleasantville, N.Y. as well as Briarcliff Manor
• The estate of William Rockefeller (not John D. Rockefeller) in Tarrytown, N.Y.
• Railroad stations along the east side of the Hudson River in Westchester County, N.Y. (Ludlow, Yonkers, Glenwood, Greystone, Hastings, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Irvington, Tarrytown, Philipse Manor, Scarborough, Ossining, Croton-Harmon, Crugers, Montrose, and Peekskill)
• The Palisades along the Hudson River, including Bear Mountain Park and Bear Mountain Bridge
• Indian Point Amusement Park in Buchanan, N.Y. (oftimes called The Hudson River Day Line's Indian Point Amusement Park)
• Playland Park in Rye, N.Y. and its predecessor amusement parks of Rye Beach Amusement Park and Paradise Park
• Grasslands Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y. and other nearby facilities such as the Westchester County Jail and Prison
• Construction views of the New York City water system (Croton and New Croton systems) in Westchester County
• The Indian Point Atomic Energy Power Plant at Buchanan, N.Y.
• Grand Central Terminal on 42nd Street, and buildings immediately around it (not prior incarnations of Grand Central)
• The North Beach Amusement Park and The North Beach Airport (now the site of La Guardia airport) and pre-1965 views of La Guardia Airport
• Jackson Heights, N.Y.
• Haines Falls, Tannersville, and the nearby summer residential parks of Twilight, Elka, Santa Cruz, Sunset, Onteora, and the Police Recreation Centre, in Greene County, N.Y.
• Gibson Island, Maryland

In addition, we are interested in views of certain other areas:

• Tarrytown, North Tarrytown, and Peekskill, N.Y. street scenes, buildings, and waterfront scenes
• Pocantico Hills, N.Y. buildings (not John D. Rockefeller estate)
• Hawthorne, Thornwood, and Valhalla, N.Y. Street scenes and buildings
• New York City's financial and publishing districts (in particular, the offices of J. P. Morgan at Wall and Broad Streets and the Park Row area where Pace College was)
• New York City's Upper East Side and Upper West Side of Manhattan around 79th Street
• New York City's East River and Hudson River bridges and tunnels, but not the Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridges
• New York City's subway system, stations and interior views
• New York City's Bronx Zoo, the monkey house
• Dartmouth College's athletic buildings and fields, the campus green, Rollins Chapel, Wheeler and Richardson halls and the Wigwam complex (dormitories), infrastructure buildings, senior societies, Tuck and Thayer graduate schools and early views of the medical school
• Yale University's freshman housing area, Pierson College, and the Art School
• Harrisburg, Penna. (only St. Stephen's church and the area nearby on Front Street, the public library, motels along Route 22. and schools and other views of Lingelstown and Lower Paxton Township)

If you have reasonably-priced cards already in this collection that are in excellent condition (either mailed or unmailed), please let us know. More than 100 of the cards displayed here are in fair or poor condition. We bought them when we were getting started and had no idea if they were scarce or not. We are looking to upgrade the quality of even the most common cards. We appreciate receiving cards on approval, if possible. We respond quickly and pay postage both ways. Photocopies are also okay, but they are often too dark and of course the back of the card cannot be examined.

To reach us via e-mail, write Bill.Burton@BurtonAndCompanyLLC.com.