GenWeekly reports “Postcards may be a great way to enhance - and enlighten - your family history”, something I’ve been working on for a while.

Dedicated to helping researchers appreciate and explore the social history aspect of their own genealogy, Gena Philipbert-Ortega, in her article, Using Postcards to Illustrate your Family History, once again provides us with multiple links to great resources. With an emphasis on postcard collecting and enhancing your family’s story through postcards, Gena directs us toward those great photo postcards of family members so popular at one time, and historical postcards of the times, places, and events that may have figured into your family’s history.

I have an amazing collection of old post cards from different sides of my family. I’m scanning them and doing a little research into where they are and what they represent, as well as the story they tell.

It’s not an easy job. Some postcards clearly state where they were taken, but not when. Others are even less clear. Some are in photo albums pasted in tightly, so removal is potentially damaging. Others are lovely pictures with no clue as to what, where, when, and why this post card is even in the albums since I have nothing to go by.

The article also spotlights Using Postcards to Illustrate your Family History by Gena Philipbert-Ortega.

If you are using postcards to help tell the story of your family’s history, do you have some tips to help the rest of us?