Postcards - Seeing in the Past



Postcards-Miami Ave c -1904At the Lake County, Illinois Discovery Museum are the Curt Teich Collection of postcards from 1897 to 1978. Teich Archives have over 400,000 postcards of more than 10,000 towns and cities in Canada and United States along with many foreign countries. It includes the largest collection of numerous locations along the famous United States Route 66, the Lincoln Highway and other travel-related images.

These postcards produced by the Curt Teich Company of Chicago, which operated from 1898 to 1978 as the world’s largest printer of view and advertising postcards. Unique also is the information from Teich ancestral town of Lobenstein, Germany.

What has been made as digital copies, about 30,000 to date, to view online are on the Illinois Digital Archives site. Many buildings, homes, schools, hospitals, businesses, and scenic locations are part of these online copies from across the United States. Use the search box at the top. As more from the vast Teich collection are scanned, more will be online. You will be able to enlarge each postcard images and then right click on the image to save to your computer.  Postcards-St Johns Hospital

A great method to view a wide assortment of postcards, many which might relate directly to your ancestors.

What is available includes:

Photos: Miami postcard showing Ave. C in 1904 and St Johns Hospital in Baltimore, MD

Related FamilyTree.com genealogical blogs:

Picture Postcards

Photos of Ohio

Hometown Postcards

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