Though the postcard can easily be dismissed as an ephemeral and outdated form of communication, as evidence of the sender’s taste it also represents the most democratic of pictorial choices. We might go for the picturesque, sentimental or humorous, but today’s selection of images fades into insignificance alongside the amazing array of motifs that characterise the golden age of the postcard.

Our illustrated talk on Wednesday 22 June discusses the history of postcards, their immense popularity and function during WWI and their continuing existence (even in the face of camera-phones and email) as a records of where we have been and what we saw. This is also, however, about the joy of collecting these fragments of the past, in which each small rectangle can reveal attitudes to taste, class, society and identity. Postcards are the historical evidence you can store in a shoe-box, decorative, personal and frequently hilarious.

Our speaker, Dr. Gail-Nina Anderson, trained as an art-historian but has gone on to lecture at just about every relevant North-Eastern institution (and many that weren’t) on an alarmingly wide range of topics, from Surrealism to Shakespeare. Her personal favourites are the Pre-Raphaelites and anything Gothic – she is an active member of both the Folklore and the Dracula societies. Currently she runs independent adult courses on art history, film and literature and is a fixture on the Lit and Phil programme of public talks. If you haven’t heard Gail-Nina speak before, you’re in for a treat.

To book

The talk will take place at The Corner House, Heaton Road, NE6 5RP on Wednesday 22 June 2016 at 7.30pm and is FREE to Heaton History Group members. Non-members pay £2. The doors open at 7.00pm. You are advised to take your seat by 7.15pm. Please book your place by contacting maria@heatonhistorygroup.org / 07443 594154. Booking is open to Heaton History Group members only until Wednesday 13 April.