Lancaster County Postcard Club sets expo

We are not hoarders; we are sentimental creatures. We are not collectors; we are protectors of memories.

For many, postcards hold great value. They can be seen as monetized sentimentality.

On Saturday, Aug. 19, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Lancaster County Postcard Club will conduct its annual expo and show at the Farm and Home Center, 1383 Arcadia Road, Lancaster. Admission to the event is free.

"People collect multiple things for all different reasons," said Gordon Smith, a member of the Lancaster County Postcard Club who's organizing the expo. "It depends on what draws their interest. Some people collect postcards for the post marks from different post offices. Some people collect them for the stamps. The show is an opportunity for people to get together and talk about postcards and explore postcards."

Postcards will be displayed on 45 tables - about 10 more than in 2022 - by 20 vendors or dealers, some from as far away as Maryland, New York, Delaware, Ohio, New Jersey, Virginia and Washington, D.C. More than 100,000 postcards depicting scenes, vacation spots and roadside places like diners, hotels and motels, as well as some celebrating holidays and special occasions, will be made available for purchase.

"I've never seen so many postcards in one place," said Smith, a 53-year-old resident of Wrightsville. "Some people have their favorite dealers. Everyone comes looking for different stuff. Most of them are there to buy, but there are also people from the community coming to sell their families' collections. But there are also people who are curious; they're just taking it all in."

Nearly 250 postcard collectors and aficionados are expected to attend the Lancaster County Postcard Expo. The expo is one of a handful of postcard shows conducted in Lancaster County at different times each year.

"(A postcard is) a card that the postal service will mail without an envelope," said Smith. "It used to be a way of communicating at the turn of the (20th) century. At that time, the mail went out three or four times a day. They didn't have telephones. It was a short message and a way to keep in touch. It was just random conversation that you and I now have in person or over the phone."

Smith said he possesses postcards that were postmarked as far back as the 1870s.

"Some people make their own postcards," said Smith. "I personally like the real photo postcards. It's a picture of what happened there and then. It gives you a glimpse of what life was like at that specific moment."

The Lancaster County Postcard Club recently celebrated the 33rd anniversary of its founding. A few years after its founding, the club sponsored its inaugural Lancaster County Postcard Expo.

"Postcards are still being made," said Smith. "You can find them at tourist areas. But they're not being used as much as they used to be, probably because people now use phones or the internet."

For additional information about the Lancaster County Postcard Club, go to http://www.facebook.com/LCPClub.