U-M library digitizes a century of Michigan postcards, from 1840s on

The University of Michigan's (U-M) William L. Clements Library has transformed 150 boxes of postcards from the David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography into a new, searchable digital database. Featuring locations across the state and dating from the 1840s to the mid-20th century, the 66,470 postcards document personal family moments, local news events, towns that no longer exist, and social changes.

"We knew that digital access was going to be really important for this collection in order to allow people to find anything in it," says Emiko Hastings, the Clements Library's curator of books and digital projects librarian. "The collection hadn't been cataloged and was mostly being used by library staff. Certainly anybody interested in local history would potentially want to look at it."

The David V. Tinder collection was donated in part by Tinder himself and his family, but a significant portion of it was donated by his close friend and fellow collector David B. and Cynthia Walters in honor of Harold L. and Marilyn S. Walters, both of whom graduated from the University of Michigan. Meaghan and Joel Cole and Jennifer and Zachary SantAmour also contributed to the acquisition of the collection by the Clements Library.

While Tinder's collection consists of images in a variety of formats including stereographs, mounted and unmounted paper prints, and real photo postcards, only the latter has been digitized. Hastings says people will be charmed with the informality of the postcards, especially those unfamiliar with what was known at the time as “the postcard craze". 

"With real photo postcards, the delightful thing about them is that they're all original, printed photographs. They're not mass produced, necessarily," she says. "People were publishing their personal vacation photos, pictures of their family members, or their favorite pet. Some were sharing political news or communicating a few lines about a death."

Hastings emphasizes that community involvement was key to completing the project, which was crowdsourced on the website Zooniverse. More than 4,000 volunteers helped to categorize and transcribe every postcard. Shapiro Design Lab, U-M Library Digital Content and Collections, Michigan Photographic Historical Society members, the U-M alumni network, and Michigan historical societies also contributed their expertise. 

"There was one gentleman who was particularly fond of railroad pictures, and I think he managed to classify almost every one that we had," Hastings says. "He had contextual information about what type of train it was, and what company owned it, and where the route ran."

Internet codebreakers also pitched in, as some postcards were written in shorthand, Morse code, or a private code. The project's online community cross-posted these postcards on a Reddit page for code-breaking, and almost all of them were deciphered. One private code between two friends was also broken by a Clements Library intern.

Other cards were easier to transcribe, but still maintain a mystery. One of Hastings' favorites features a picture of a ship on the front. 

"It reads, 'Dear Burt, I am arrested. Lee, Ned, and myself are charged with attempting to burn the high school,'" she says. "Then it reads, 'The trial comes off next Wednesday. Don't get excited until you hear the result.'"

Hastings is excited for users to explore the database. She hopes they'll get a sense of what Tinder saw in the collection, and why he thought it was important to bring it together.

"There's pics of President Taft coming to visit and giving a campaign speech. There's people writing about finding a job or moving to a new city," she says. "There's so many experiences that will resonate with people today."

You can browse the new database here.