{"id":4602,"date":"2025-03-14T09:30:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T09:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=4602"},"modified":"2025-03-14T11:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T11:13:07","slug":"the-dorset-postcard-collection-bournemouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2025\/03\/14\/the-dorset-postcard-collection-bournemouth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dorset Postcard Collection – Bournemouth"},"content":{"rendered":"

When did you last send a postcard? For many of us, postcards are reserved for summer holidays, and even then they have largely been eclipsed by texts and video calls. But in the late 19th<\/sup> and early 20th<\/sup> centuries, the postcard was a hugely popular means of communication. By the end of King Edward VII\u2019s reign (1910), 800 million were being sent every year! Postcards were quick to write, cheap and informal, and numerous postal collections per day meant they could be delivered in a matter of hours.<\/p>\n

At Dorset History Centre, we hold an archive of over four thousand postcards from all over Dorset (aptly named the Dorset Postcard Collection \u2013 reference D-DPC<\/a>). Until recently, they were housed in large albums without clear references, which made them very difficult to find! Over the last few months, we have been working on tidying up the collection \u2013 housing it in new archival-quality boxes, ensuring every postcard is catalogued and clearly labelled, and generally making it much easier to access.<\/p>\n

To mark the end of this work, we\u2019ve put together a series of blogs showcasing some of our favourite postcards from the collection, sent Dorset\u2019s tourist hotspots. We\u2019re kicking off this month with Bournemouth. All the postcards below feature images of things in and around the town, including the Alum Chine Suspension Bridge, Boscombe Beach, Hawthorns Hotel, and much more!<\/p>\n