NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Wish You Were Here: Postcards of New Rochelle, is the featured exhibit at the New Rochelle Public Library, from January 9th through January 30th. During the Golden Age of Postcards, at the turn of the last century, New Rochelle’s grand resorts, meandering shoreline, leafy neighborhoods, stately structures, and impressive Fort Slocum military base were captured in images for a multitude of postcards that traveled the world. The vintage postcards from the library’s local history collection, which will be enlarged and exhibited in the Lumen Winter Gallery during regular library hours, will provide a wonderful glimpse into the early 1900s, when New Rochelle was coming into its own identity as one of America’s premier suburban communities.
A free illustrated presentation, Postcards as Collectible Treasures of the Past, will take place on Sunday, January 10 from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm in the library’s Ossie Davis Theater. In the presentation, Roderick Kennedy will discuss the evolution of picture postcards and the pleasures of collecting these cameos of our past. Mr. Kennedy is the president of Metropolitan Postcard Club and author of several books on postcards, including Lost New York in Old Postcards and Hollywood in Vintage Postcards. He was also the originator of the interpretive signs at Glen Island Park and the New Rochelle Walk of Fame. The presentation is made possible by the generosity of the Friends of the New Rochelle Public Library.