Written postcards

There is something fascinating about reading other people’s postcards. Sometimes the messages are strange, sometimes they are touching, but when they are associated with an area of research that interests you, like the New Zealand Shipping Company, then they can be even more interesting.

It is not like reading a letter, not quite as intrusive as that, perhaps because when the postcard is mailed, anyone can read it . . . even the postman. However, I wonder how many of the people who wrote the cards shown here ever considered that they might be reproduced for the whole world to see when they wrote them 50 to 100 years ago? I will certainly think carefully before I write another postcard!

At the time of writing this introduction I have more than 30 written postcards to scan and include here, so check back regularly to see what has been added. The chances are very slim, but if you should see a card written by one of your ancestors, please let me know.

The cards will be sorted into ships and then into date order (where known), with a new page given to each ship name. Some of the pages will be quite long so please scroll down to the bottom in each case. The links to the pages are on the right hand side.

David