Yup, you read that correctly: postcards are celebrating their 150th anniversary this year! Hurray!! 🎉
October 1st, 1869 was the day the Austrian Post decided to implement Dr. Emanuel Herrmann’s recommendations for a practical and cheaper means of sending short messages. Up until then, letters were the norm, but they were expensive and filled with formal etiquette, taking some effort to write. So postcards were born to simplify things… and the rest is history.
For some months now, we’ve been busy behind the scenes researching the history of postcards and putting together a special website to commemorate the anniversary of our favorite means of communication, and to encourage the whole world to re-discover the joy that is finding a postcard in a mailbox.
We know that October is still some months away, but a sesquicentennial anniversary is a pretty big deal and it definitely deserves a party — which is where YOU come in!
Your mission, if you wish to accept it, is to plan a meetup with other local postcrossers to celebrate the 150th anniversary of postcards. Meet new friends, make some postal-themed activities, or just send postcards together. It can be as small or as big as you’d like — the important thing is to have fun and celebrate the postcard. This is a birthday party, after all! 😉
If you’ve never organized a meetup before, don’t worry, it’s easy! Reach out to other nearby postcrossers via private message or on the forum, and when you’re more or less set on a plan, make a post about it on the forum (here’s a quick how-to guide to meetups). There are already a few meetings being planned for this special celebration, and we look forward to adding lots more to the events page.
This next part is optional, but in the spirit of connecting the world, it would be super cool if these meetings were connected with other meetings happening simultaneously, or with other postcrossers celebrating the day. If internet is available in the place where you’ll meet, consider livestreaming or reaching out to other meetup hosts in advance, to set up a video chat so everyone can say hi! Let us know what your plans are, and we can help spread the word about it.
Ok, I think this is all for now! We’ve written a bit more about these meetups on this forum post, where you can ask further questions.
Come discover the history of postcards on 150yearsofpostcards.com, and spread the word about this remarkable #150yearsofpostcards anniversary — let’s make it a party that the whole world will remember!
37 comments so far
Athens meet up
In Brazil we will also celebrate this great date.
We will send info, and thanks for helping and cheering all world together.
Luv u PC! <3
Wuxi Meetup, China
https://forum.postcrossing.com/viewthread.php?tid=124800
Thanks, Anneke
https://flic.kr/p/2gD8dou
October 9, 1874 in Switzerland, representatives of 22 countries, signed the Berne agreement, which establishes the basis of the General Post Union. In 1878, the union changed its name and became known as the Universal Postal Union. To date, the World Postal Mail has 189 countries in its composition. Worldwide October 9 is celebrated as World Mail Day. This event is held during the week, called "International Week of the Letter".
World Mail Day or International Postal Service Day is one of the international days celebrated in the United Nations system. Conducted by the decision of the XIV Congress of the World Union of Postal Affairs on the day the Union was founded in 1974.
In the meantime, I thought of another little way to celebrate, by myself : I used the online phone directory for the whole of Canada (canada411.ca) to find the address of one person in each province of the country who is completely unrelated to me but has the same last name as me (I'm lucky enough to have a Scottish last name that was brought to Canada by the settlers a couple of centuries ago, so the most difficult thing was chosing just one lucky recipient in each province!). I'm planning on sending each one of these strangers a postcard from Ottawa/Gatineau, explaining about the postcard's 150th anniversary and what I decided to do to celebrate it. I'm hoping that the recipients of my postcards will be thrilled about finding a little surprise from a total stranger in another part of the country in their mailbox!
Oh, and while I'm at it : if there are postcrossers from Scotland whose last name is "Ross" and who'd like to do a swap for the occasion, feel free to email me! Alternately, if you know someone with the surname "Ross" who lives in Scotland, email me : I'd gladly send them a postcard too!
I'd like to meet with some postcrosser there
Have a nice day
Juanjo
There are similar activities in my city (Zhengzhou, China)
Welcome the Postcard Lovers of the World
Happy Birthday to the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of PostcardsοΌοΌ
WIsh my students (in ID )can send more postcards to whom are willing to reply...
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