Collector develops web site to display his vast and historical local postcard collection.

by Grace Griffee

Alan Ladd was in a Buffalo antique shop a few years ago helping his wife look for a piano stool when he happened upon a box of old postcards. As he casually leafed through, he spotted one that featured a view from the top of Cobb's Hill near his home. Dating back to the turn of the century, the card provided him with a glimpse of a familiar place in a long ago era. He purchased the card for 50 cents.
That day was truly the start of something big because Ladd now has thousands of vintage postcards, most of which depict views of Rochester and its surrounding communities around the turn of the century. "Collecting postcards was a monstrous hobby back then. It was how people kept memories of the places they had been," he said. 'people even belonged to clubs where they would mail postcards to each other."
Ladd's oldest card dates back to 1905. However, he said the age is not what makes a card valuable, but what's on it. "I read about one card with a French ad for a bicycle on it that is worth $13,000," he said. Ladd's wife, Betty, and daughter, Crystal, think what's on the back is even more valuable. "They just devour the backs of the cards, something I don't pay much attention to," he said. One of their favorites is from some man writing to his cousin to tell her that he's in love with her.
Ladd said he has the most fun looking for cards. "It's like the lottery; you never know what your next card is going to be," he said. "I like dickering on the price, too." He's found the Rochester postcards are more expensive if bought in Rochester, but more difficult to find in other areas. More difficult to find yet are cards featuring scenes from the surrounding suburbs. "I especially like to find those types of cards because they show real life people all dressed up and scenes that we can all relate to," he said. His collection includes several scenes of Brockport, including a card of the Brockport Piano Manufacturing Company that was located on Oxford and Spring Streets and one dated 1910 of the Mary J. Holmes residence. Others include a Churchville scene of a trout brook along Black Creek, Hilton Cold Storage (which is dated February 28, 1916), the Manitou Hotel located on Manitou Beach, and the Spencerport village building and firehouse, among others.
"Most cards often show interesting locations, historic occasions, or just a scenic view. Whatever the topic, they show a frozen moment from a distant time. The people in vintage clothing are like ghosts, stepping out from the past to show you their world. There's a strange fascination seeing the places you know well, looking completely different," writes Ladd on the web page he developed to display his postcard collection.
Ladd had the idea for a web site "in the back of his head" for a while when he began talking to Sue Swanton, a librarian at the Gates Public Library. She happened to also be a representative for Genesee Gateway, a web site service with links to sites of local interest. "Genesee Gateway's interest is really what gave me the impetus to get the web site going," he said. That was one-and-a-half years ago, and he's been going non-stop with the project ever since. Now, his web site, Vintage Views of Rochester, features 733 postcards of buildings, cemeteries, the Genesee River, industry, parks, street scenes and transportation, in addition to the surrounding communities mentioned before.
In his search for local postcards, Ladd also came across enough scenes of New York State to fill another web site, Vintage Views of New York State. This site features a different theme each month. For November, there is a collection of cards of older homes with the theme "Gram ma's house"
A third web site, Rochester's History:  An Illustrated Timeline has photos, drawings and maps Ladd found while doing research on his postcards. The timeline chronicles the history of Rochester all the way back to its geologic formation to the construction of the Erie Canal, making Rochester the largest producer of flour in the world, to the changes the area has seen in the 175 years since then.
Ladd claims he wasn't always a history buff. "I wasn't inspired in high school but developed an interest through reading," he said. 'I didn't get into local history though, until I began collecting postcards" Now, Ladd picks a topic, like Jack the Ripper (who is from the area), and just "digs in." I add a postcards to the sites all the time, so I spend about a half hour on the Rochester site every week and a couple hours a month on the New York site, but it's the timeline that easily takes up two or three hours every night." All that in addition to working full time as a mold maker at Advanced Mold and Tooling Inc. in Gates.
Each of the web sites is "user friendly," too. 'I don't have the' skills to do a fancy web site and I wanted something simple, straightforward and easy to navigate," Ladd said. Pictures of the postcards come up quickly and are almost actual size, not thumbnails. "I've received feedback from people who have moved from the area and have logged onto my site and seen familiar places," he added. 'Now, I'm receiving hits from all over the world."
Ladd's ultimate goal is to have his web sites used by students as an educational resource. He welcomes comments and suggestions, and can be contacted through the e-mail address listed on each of the web sites. The Rochester postcard site can be accessed by logging onto www.ggw.org/VintageViews. Links to the other sites are located their as well.
 

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