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by Margaret and Mabel Wooldridge
THIS is your opportunity to research a source of
historical interest. The museum has a collection of postcards which are stored
in folders so that you can see both sides of the cards.
The postcards are mostly from pre-First World War to pre-Second World War (approximately 1904-'39). Some have been bought at antique
fairs and charity shops, others have been donated to the museum.
They are especially interesting because the pictures,
stamps, postmarks, handwriting and messages all give an insight into the period.
The cards do not, with some exceptions, carry holiday
messages as mostly happens today. They are carriers of vital bits of information which
today we should phone or e-mail. Several give times of trains by which family and friends
would be arriving home. With several postal deliveries each day, the cards probably
arrived the same day.
Photographs of individuals, groups and events were made
into postcards. Examples are a postcard of a railway disaster at Shrewsbury in 1907 and
one bearing pictures of all the members of Nantwich Urban District Council in 1910.
A point of interest is that the weather receives just as
much comment as it does today. Some people staying at the Brine Baths Hotel are very
complimentary about the hotel but say it has rained ever since they arrived.
The postcard collection is sub-divided as follows:
- Nantwich streets, shops and shop fronts
- Brine Baths Hotel, Nantwich
- Cheese and dairy industries
- Group photographs
- Cottage Hospital and schools
- Nantwich - mixed views
- St Mary's parish church
- The Royal Visit, 1926 (Prince of Wales)
- Places outside Nantwich (Acton, Bunbury)
- Railway accident, October 15th, 1907 - Shrewsbury
- Miscellaneous - some unknown
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