Postcards from Old Des Moines
During Regular Library Hours
Throughout the Month of January
Central Library
Close to 100 treasured postcards, stored for years in the library’s Special Collections Department, will soon see the light of day thanks to a recent digitization project. Featuring street scenes and historic buildings, the postcards offer a glimpse into the lives of old Des Moines. This revolving slide show appear on the flat panel screens throughout the month of January.
The postcard project is just part of an overall effort by our librarians to digitize more local history materials, making them more accessible for library customers. Planning for an expanded Local History Page on the library’s web site is also underway.
The Des Moines Public Library Postcard Collection includes postcards depicting scenes from all over the state of Iowa. For this digital collection, we chose to focus on the Des Moines area and specifically on those postcards that had been posted. Our process of digitizing and combining both the front and back side of each unique postcard into single images makes each one more accessible to a larger audience. Each of the personal sender’s messages opens a window to the past, an understanding of lives and relationships in the early 1900s.
December 2008 - January 2009