By Cyntra Brown
Salisbury Post
In 30 years, Bill and Marian Britton Harter collected some 740 postcards.
Rowan Museum will feature an exhibit, opening Sunday, of its recently acquired Harter collection.
Marian Harter says that the main part of their collection was devoted to Salisbury and Rowan County and notes that postcards from the smaller towns were especially hard to find. The exhibit serves as as introduction to the Harters, their collection and the history of the postcards.
Lillian Gascoigne and fellow board member Betty Dan Spencer helped set up the exhibit.
“This is such a remarkable gift,” Gascoigne says. “It is a hobby they shared together. It is an educational tool for the museum for years to come.”
Harter remembers how her husband’s stamp collection led to their love of postcards.
“Around 1980, we met Audrey and Jerome Madans, and they took us to the Greensboro Postcard Club,” Harter says. “We have been serious ever since.”
The Harters traveled to Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North and South Carolina to find postcards.
“You have to want to collect,” she says.
The postcard collection is more than just greeting cards. Many cards feature historic buildings of Salisbury, which have been studied during restoration projects.
According to research on the exhibit, the first postcard appeared in the U.S. in 1873. Many original postcards left a white border around the picture since it was illegal to write on the back. In 1907, Congress allowed messages to be written on the back of postcards, starting the “Divided Back Period.”
A decline of production, photography and paper from German printers resulted in “The White Border Period,” and “The Linen Era” is known for its cross-hatched paper that resembles fabric.
Currently, we are in the “Chrome Era” where cards are printed with shiny, clear images and bright colors.
The exhibit also features “Roaming Rowan County,” taking you through various parts of the county.
“It’s like touching history,” Gascoigne says of the exhibit. “It brings it to life.”
Scenes include cotton farming and manufacturing, quarrying of granite, gold mining and the South River Bridge, located near Davie County.
The last section of postcards will show the “glories of the past.” You’ll see pictures of town square, First Methodist, St. John’s Lutheran and First Baptist churches in their original form. You’ll also see buildings that no longer exist, such as Henderson Home, where the public library now stands, and the Price home, where the Prince Charles apartments are now located.The Harters’ cards are pictured in “Postal Souvenirs” by Clyde Overcash, books by Susan Sides, and “A North Carolina Postcard Album” by Masengill and Topkins. There are other books by J.L. Mashburn, Susan Brown Nicholson and Diane Allman.
The exhibit will be on display until Sept. 1.