What better way to start an emotional relationship with a city than to start collecting its paraphernalia. I must confess that I have started to collect postcards that feature Lancaster's noteworthy architecture. Considering Lancaster County's tradition as a tourist destination, there is no shortage of postcards. You can imagine how thrilled I was to stumble on "the Churches of Lancaster" on eBay, this being the subject of a class I'm teaching next semester. Naturally, I bid on it and it arrived (above). I am not sure of the postcard's date, I would guess 1950s from the graphics. It proudly shows Lancaster's touristic identity vis-a-vis its historic churches. Considering that Lancaster has 122 churches, knowing which buildings the city promoted as its premier heritage is noteworthy. The churches are the First Methodist Church, St. Paul's Reformed Church, Grace Lutheran Church, Saint John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, and Trinity Lutheran Church.The postcard will make a perfect conversation piece for the first meeting of my ART271 class, "Lancaster: Architecture of Faith." Pre-registration has just finished at Franklin & Marshall, and I am thrilled to see that the class is registered to full capacity. As I expected, it is a lot more popular than my Medieval Art and Architecture survey.
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I have started to create my own collection of photos I've taken turned into postcards, and several feature architectural detail of downtown Lancaster. I'd be happy to send you some to add to your collection -- you can send your address to me at jenkopf@verizon.net if you like. They're nothing fancy, but I'm enjoying the process of creating them.
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