THE surface area of our fridge which isn’t adorned with magnets from places near and far is home instead to postcards.
There are many of them and they span the years.
There’s one from our son on his first school trip. In his best handwriting, he enthuses about his adventures at an outdoor activity centre: “Having a great time. Been for a forest walk and got drenched. Had soup, pizza and yoghurt. Having supper now. Missing you.” I very much doubt that! At the bottom he has drawn a very happy looking boy dripping with rain, presumably with a full tummy.
Fast forward several years, and here’s another postcard frozen in time. This one is from us to him. We had returned to our honeymoon destination to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. It marked the first time we’d left him home alone.
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I can’t say it was the most relaxing holiday. Yes, he was 18 and surely mature enough to avoid burning the house down. But then again …
We returned not to a scene of devastation, however, but to a house so clean and pristine it resembled a crime scene. This was all the evidence we needed to conclude that a party had taken place.
There are other such postcards, each a little snapshot of life’s adventures. Some are very tattered and worn, but they have not lost their charm or that air of excitement they brought when they first arrived through the letterbox.
A WhatsApp message is just not the same.
So I’m looking forward to a forthcoming exhibition announced last week which will celebrate the Scottish photographers who pioneered the holiday postcard.
Valentines was founded in 1851 in Dundee by James Valentine and quickly became one the city’s biggest employers. The Sincerely, Valentines exhibition will open at V&A Dundee in July and will include original photographs, printing plates and promotional materials. Original artwork and greetings cards loaned from former staff will also be on show.
With support from the Valentine family and following two public appeals, more than 40 families with Valentines’ connections came forward to contribute to the exhibition. The memories of 10 former employees have now been documented in a new film created for the exhibition.
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The James Valentine Photographic Collection, which includes over 120,000 images, is held in the University of St Andrews Libraries And Museums.
Andrew Valentine, great-great grandson of James Valentine, welcomed the exhibition: “I have been immensely encouraged by everyone’s enthusiasm and have appreciated being involved throughout the process.”
Leonie Bell, director at V&A Dundee, said: “J Valentine And Sons, with the help of its workforce, grew from a family business to become one of the most successful and innovative publishers of postcards in the world. Their story, told beautifully in the exhibition, weaves together many stories from design and social history through to personal memories and nostalgia for the past.”
Postcards from the edge of time …
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