Greetings From . . .

I think I know where I'm going on my next vacation . . .

The Curt Teich Postcard Archives, part of the Lake County Discovery Museum, is recognized throughout the world as the largest public collection of postcards and related materials.

The Teich Company is well-known for producing colorful Large Letter postards.

. . . if only so I can send a large letter "Greetings from . . ." postcard from the postcard archives. Heh. Or I could get myself a souvenir tippy pen — only $3.85!

The Museum’s award-winning tippy pen was designed by the Teich Archives staff. It features a floating postcard, which travels back and forth from Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox in Minnesota to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. The pen comes in five different colors — purple, light blue, aqua, red, and royal blue.

I've always liked those "Greetings from" kind of postcards, but I didn't know until last week that they're technically called "large letter" or that they were originally made by the Curt Teich Company. I found an interesting article on creativepro.com that explains some basics: Heavy Metal Madness: Greetings from Big Letters USA by Gene Gable.

After that, some basic Googling led me to The Large Letter Page and its article "A Brief History of Large Letter Postcards." I also found Sherm's blog entry on the same topic, and discovered that one of the commenters linked to this, which I so totally want. (Seriously: Check it out. I also want the additional Americana shades.)

Cardcow.com has a massive selection, in case I want to start my own collection*. They have a lot of Akron ones, like this one from the Central News Company:



The back says:

Akron — City of Opportunity. Akron's growth falls into five periods, following successive stages of transportation - canoe, canal boat, railroad, motor transport and air-way. The rise of each new type of trade route opened the way to Akron's greater development. Akron ranks second in Ohio and eleventh in the United States in industrial payrolls and value of manufactured products. It is the largest rubber manufacturing center in the world. Akron has a Metropolitan Park system of over 2,000 acres, city parks, Municipal University and a fine public school system.

I have a rubber stamp set that contains a whole alphabet in the large-letter style, plus postcard-worthy phrases like "Greetings from . . . " and "Having a great time at . . . " and "Why not swing by?" I used it to make a card for my dad** a few years ago. It has a travel theme and uses one of our family catchphrases: Whenever we see/hear a reference to somewhere we've been on one of our jillion family vacations, we'll say, "Been there!" So the four-panel card has New York, San Francisco, and Hollywood images with "Been there, done that" spelled out in the large letter alphabet. I also used the same set to do a "Greetings from Akron" card of my own, with a Goodyear blimp rubber stamp that I picked up at Stamp Your Art Out in Cincinnati when I was in the area for a friend's wedding reception. I wish I had photos to post . . . maybe I'll take some the next time I visit them, and come back and update this entry. Yeah, right. Don't hold your breath!

* Which I kind of do, but I think I'll have to settle for some kind of coffee table book with full-color reproductions.

** I can't remember now if it was for Father's Day or his birthday.