Cataloguing Old Postcards: Preserve the Postmark, Protect the Address

Practical guidance for a UK community archive sorting postcards: postmark uncertainty, front and back scans, personal addresses, provenance and caption review.

Preserve the relationship between both sides

An old postcard is not merely the picture on its front. The writing, stamp, postal mark and layout on the reverse may explain how it travelled and when it was used. Before scanning a bundle, give each physical card a unique inventory number and record which group or envelope it came from. Keep the front and reverse linked under that same identifier. If an envelope belongs with a particular card, preserve that connection without assuming it proves when the photograph was taken. A card mailed in one year may display a photograph produced much earlier.

Record uncertainty instead of guessing a date

A postmark may be faint, partly covered by a stamp or struck more than once. Transcribe only the characters you can actually make out and mark uncertain portions visibly. Do not turn a handwritten guess into a definitive place name. Photograph details at sufficient clarity for later review while keeping an unedited reference image. A hypothetical card carries an unclear day and a readable year. Its catalogue can use the year with an uncertainty note; there is no need to fill in an invented calendar date just to satisfy a spreadsheet.

Protect private information in public copies

The reverse may include names, historic home addresses and messages about people who have living relatives. Possession of the original does not automatically make unrestricted online publication appropriate. Decide which information belongs in the restricted archival record and which may appear in a public image or caption. Redaction should happen on a derivative file, leaving the preservation master controlled and intact. If rights or privacy are uncertain, delay public display and seek an informed review rather than treating a street address as a decorative part of the exhibit.

Write captions from evidence, not nostalgia

Describe what is visibly shown, what the card itself states, and what external records have actually confirmed. Keep these layers separate. A picture of a railway station can be identified as such without claiming the scene depicts a specific national event. For a community display, explain when an attribution is provisional and invite corrections through a managed contact route. Avoid publishing volunteer contact details on the catalogue or identifying a private donor without permission. A useful caption supports further research rather than closing it prematurely.

Brief helpers for bounded tasks

On Match2Go an authorised community group could request assistance with numbering cards, transcribing postmarks or checking captions, while retaining control over sensitive source images. State how many items are involved, whether work takes place on site, and what proof of completion is needed. Do not represent a volunteer as an accredited archivist merely because they offered help. Confirm every contributor through a real response, and review the publication set separately from the internal catalogue before any images go online.

Prepared with AI assistance; independent human editorial review has not been confirmed.