Philately Postcard Special Collection

A “Cool Item From the Archives” comes in the form of a special collection of music and music products related postcards. This collection of both brand new and used postcards were often used as a form of advertising by manufacturers and retailers alike. In a prior blog, we featured a special collection of trade cards from our archives that are often thought of as the precursor to modern-day advertising postcards. Utilized as a form of direct mailing, postcards, and their trade card predecessors remained popular through World War I eventually falling in popularity as radio broadcast became a more efficient and inexpensive way to reach large audiences.

We have selected a small sampling to represent the Philately Postcard Special Collection that, in total, amounts to over 400 postcards. The inspiration for this collection was an initial donation of postcards from Henry Z. Steinway which has served as inspiration for the Resource Center team to continue collecting these unique advertising postcards.  

Elizabeth Dale
NAMM Archivist & Oral History Coordinator

Dan Del Fiorentino
Music Historian
dand@namm.org