Introduction
In the era before email and social media, postcards were an important means of communication. These inexpensive little cards allowed people to exchange images of the places they visited — places if not exotic, then at least unfamiliar to the recipient. A place like Frankfort, Kentucky was inevitably the subject of many postcards. As a state capital, it attracted many visitors and was the site of many noteworthy buildings. Frankfort’s history and public events stimulated images. The town was blessed as well with an attractive, scenic location in a cliff-lined, riverside valley. Postcard manufacturers churned out Frankfort cards by the hundreds featuring scores of different views. Visitors to Kentucky’s small-town capital city bought and mailed them eagerly.
Fortunately, modern-day collectors saved old Frankfort postcards just as eagerly. They made their massive collections available to the Capital City Museum and to the author of this attractive volume. This allowed the postcards to communicate in a whole new way. Once, they had conveyed messages over distance. Now, they can convey their information over time. The cards illustrated in this volume show and tell us much about Frankfort in times gone by — what the place looked like, what people thought was important, what it was like to live in a familiar place in unfamiliar times.
Two-Page Spread Sample
