Picture postcards subject of next Ellwood House lecture series

DeKALB – The Picture Postcards: The Happy Invention virtual presentation is the subject of the next Brown Bag and Local Lore program hosted by the Ellwood House Museum.

The program will begin at noon Thursday, Dec. 1, at the Ellwood House Museum Visitor’s Center, 420 Linden Place, DeKalb, according to a news release.

The program is free and open to the public.

During the presentation, the founding curator of the Teich Archives, Katherine Hamilton Smith, will present an illustrated look at the documentary power and significance of picture postcards.

The first picture postcards were published for the 1889 Paris Exposition, celebrating the completion of the Eiffel Tower. In America, the first picture postcards were printed for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The world’s largest public collection of postcards and related materials, the Curt Teich Postcard Archives, were given to the Newberry Library by the Lake County Forest Preserve District in 2016.

The Picture Postcards: The Happy Invention virtual presentation is part of “Brown Bag Lunch/Local Lore,” a free lecture series offered in collaboration by the Ellwood House Museum and DeKalb County History Center.

To register, visit the DeKalb County History Center’s website, dekalbcountyhistory.org, and scroll down to “Upcoming Events.”

Brown Bag Lunch and Local Lore is funded in part by the Mary E. Stevens Concert and Lecture Fund.

For information, call 815-895-5762 or email info@dekalbcountyhistory.org.