A searchable archive of antique postcards.
Every card scanned on both sides, its handwriting transcribed, its places and dates recorded. Search names, towns, and streets, and read the past in the sender's own hand.
Recent Postcards
A preview of some recently published postcards added to the PostalPast collection.
Built for people who ask questions of the past
PostalPast is a research tool for anyone working with primary sources. Genealogists trace family names and addresses. Local historians study streets and buildings that no longer exist. Researchers and educators cite transcribed, dated postcards as primary-source documents.
Genealogists
Names, addresses, and messages in the sender's own hand. Search a family name and follow them across towns and decades.
Local historians
Streets, storefronts, and landmarks as they were. A street-level record of places that have changed or vanished.
Researchers
Every card scanned on both sides, transcribed, dated, and documented. Citeable pages you can link to and reference.
A century of mail,
one search away.
Search transcribed messages by name or place. Filter by era, subject, or publisher. Every card has a stable page you can cite and share.
Browse postcards