Collecting Postcards for a Half Century with Mark Routh

The Photo Detective

It’s time for another themed month. This time it's postcards. Three guests this month share stories about their personal connections with these mailable images. In this episode, English collector Mark Routh chats about his collection which spans 1869 to the present. He has some museum-quality gems. Did you know that dirigibles mailed items for their passengers? Neither did I. You won’t believe how many postcards he’s accumulated in his lifetime. It all began with a single card that his father gave him.

Related Episodes:

Episode 116: America and the Tintype with Steven Kasher

Episode 108: Researching the Ships of Our Ancestors

Links:

• Picture Postcard Monthly
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About My Guest:

Mark Routh’s postcard collection began 50 years ago. He’s a recently retired police officer. He has a substantial collection from all periods of postcard production (1869 – 2021).

He wrote a regular postcard article for the international magazine ‘Picture Postcard Monthly’ – 1992 to 2020 (the pandemic closed down the magazine)

He now writes a monthly article for the new international magazine ‘Picture Postcard Collecting’ which started up in 2020 as a replacement for the previously mentioned magazine.

About Maureen Taylor:

Maureen is a frequent keynote speaker on photo identification, photograph preservation, and family history at historical and genealogical societies, museums, conferences, libraries, and other organizations across the U.S., London, and Canada. She’s the author of several books and hundreds of articles and her television appearances include The View and The Today Show (where she researched and presented a complete family tree for host Meredith Vieira). She’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, The Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel, American Spirit, and The New York Times. Maureen was recently a spokesperson and photograph expert for MyHeritage.com, an internationally known family history website, and also writes guidebooks, scholarly articles, and online columns for such media as Smithsonian.com. Learn more at

I'm thrilled to be offering something new. Photo investigations. These collaborative one-on-one sessions. Look at your family photos then you and I meet to discuss your mystery images. And find out how each clue and hint might contribute to your family history. Find out more by going to maureentaylor.com and clicking on family photo investigations.

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