My name is Christine and I live in Switzerland. I’m an early millennial and I love animals and enjoy being outdoors (hiking, wild swimming, tending to our garden). I also like cooking, baking, handicraft work, reading and Yoga.
In my opinion it’s sometimes better to honour and repair old and vintage stuff instead of buying new (and cheap) things, that fall apart after a few times of use. I grew up in a rather rural area and have a strong connection to my ancestors.
Is there a story about how these postcards came to you?
Collecting postcards is quite common in my family – my grandmother did it as well as my mother. As a kid, I also had a collection of my own. During my childhood (which was in the 80s and 90s) it was very common to write postcards, especially on vacations. That is why I received a lot of postcards from my friends and family.
The collection I am showing on Instagram was a heritage of my grandmother (my mother’s mother). My grandmother lived from 1927 to 2020. When she died, my mother asked me if I would like to have her collection of postcards, because I always had a soft spot for those vintage postcards. Of course, I said yes. The first few months – I have to admit – I didn’t do much with those cards. I stored those four albums in the attic. Then I decided to do some handicraft work with them – decorating scrapbooks and such. But I soon found out that I couldn’t bring it over me to “destroy” the collection. I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Then, rather late, I discovered Instagram and I had the idea to share my grandmother’s collection with other people who love those vintage cards.
Some information about the postcards: Most of these cards date from the 1920s to the 1940s and were sent to my grandmother and her family.
What did they mean to you then, and now?
As I first received the collection, I was just pleased because I loved the pretty pictures. Other than that, I didn’t think much of it. But as I started to read the texts in the back of the cards, I started to feel a connection to all those people. Event though I didn’t know all of them – most of them were already long gone before my time. But in reading the lines I felt the connection those writers had to my grandmother and her family. Sometimes, there were just a few words, sometimes, there was a very long text, written in very small handwriting so that it would fit on the card. Interesting side note: My mother told me that in the past, you had to pay less postage if you only wrote a few words on the card.
And then, of course, there was the love story. When my other grandparents died (my father’s parents), we found so many postcards that my grandfather wrote to my grandmother. These cards are not part of the collection I got from my other grandmother, but sometimes I’m also showing them on Instagram. It was very interesting to read the words that my grandfather wrote to my grandmother when they were dating – sometimes there were only a few words on the card. For example: “I’m going to visit you on Sunday and I will take the train on eight o’clock.” Today, you would write a quick text on your phone – then you wrote a postcard a few days ahead and had to keep your promise on when you would arrive. During WWII, my grandfather was in the army and wrote love letters (on postcards) to my grandmother.
I’m getting carried away writing this. 
To sum it up: These old postcards mean a lot to me. It’s not only the pretty pictures, but also the words on the back and the connection to the people who wrote and received those cards.
Among your collection, which images stand out and why?
That’s a very hard question. I like the floral motives as well as those cards that show landscapes, buildings and villages. It’s interesting to see how those landscapes and villages changed over time. I will send you some pictures via Instagram that I particularly like.
Tell us more about how you like to present your collection on social media and elsewhere?
I take photos with my smartphone and not with a professional camera. I like to keep things simple. I love to take those pictures outdoors in our garden. Sometimes you can see flowers in the background of the pictures. Instagram is the only place where I share those pictures, as I don’t have a website.
If you could give and/or receive a postcard from anyone living or passed, who would it be and why?
I would love to receive a postcard from my grandmother (my father’s mother). You see, as I grew up, my parents, my brother and me lived together with our grandparents (my father’s parents) in the same house. That is why I never got a letter or a postcard from this grandmother. When we wanted to talk, we could just go up or down the stairs. Plus, she was never one to write a lot, so there exist almost no letters or postcards from her. As we always had a strong bond, it would be so nice to have some written words from her.
As far as giving goes, I really like to write little notes or postcards to my husband, even though we live together in the same house. He likes to do that too.
The Posted Past 