You’re welcome, Jo! It’s as lovely as ever. The Stockton Farmer’s Market is still going strong and The Stockton Inn is planning a renovation (https://buckscountyherald.com/centuriesold-stockton-inn-eyed-for-revitalization-p7374-175.htm). And the Delaware River just keeps on rolling along…
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Wow, that’s really cool! Good for you 
Thank you, Louisa. And welcome to the Forum!
Monday, March 8, 2021 - 01:10 (UTC -5)
Hello, All:
It’s been a little over a month since The Bucks County Herald (“BCH”) published their two-part article on Postcrossing in their February 4, 2021, edition. Response to it has been overwhelmingly positive and I’m grateful to everyone for their continuing encouragement.
The uniquely wonderful thing about this article is the colorful display of the postcards. You can instantly recognize the cards you’ve sent, received, or favorited and that makes the article effectively personal. It’s great to get publicity for Postcrossing but even better to “show and tell” the actual postcards themselves so that we (current Postcrossers) and possibly new Postcrossers (from among BCH readers) can share some of the positivity of the project.
A number of people have asked for some more of the details of the preparation of the article, specifically how the cards actually shown in the article were chosen from the large set of relevant cards and where those cards were acquired.
I’ve also had requests to translate these Forum Posts and all their supporting materials into other languages, specifically German, and to model/abstract the article development process for replication by other Postcrossers in their own territories around the world.
Today, in this Post, let’s look at the postcards, their sources, and the selection process. Let’s save translation and development for next time.
What follows is very specific to the BCH article and its content. If you’re not from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or the Delaware Valley, you may want to wait for the subsequent posts on translation and development but I think this detail anticipates those discussions and so may be worth your time in that light.
Bridget (the author) and I had several phone calls and an extensive email thread before she wrote the article.
Early on, I offered her a look at my Postcrossing Wall (Sent and Received) in general and the cards related to her publication’s circulation territory in particular. I gathered up nearly 200 relevant cards and described them in this way:
Here’s what we have: BCH Local, BCH Extended, and Other/Stock.
By “BCH Local”, let’s mean the standard geographical territory, as per the BCH masthead (“Serving Bucks, Hunterdon and surrounding counties”), of Bucks, Hunterdon, and their immediately adjacent counties:
PENNSY
Lehigh
Northampton
Philadelphia
Montgomery
JERSEY
Warren
Mercer
Burlington
Morris
Somerset
By “BCH Extended”, let’s mean Eastern Pennsylvania from the Delaware River west to the Susquehanna River, south to the Delaware and Maryland borders, and north to the New York State line. Also, far western New Jersey along the entire Delaware River border with Pennsylvania across to the Shore from Middlesex County on down south to Cape May (sans New York City and environs).
By “Other/Stock”, let’s mean those cards which refer to Postcrossing itself ((direct and indirect): “Typical Postcrossing” and “Happy Postcrossing from the USA” by PaperSisters, 1st World Postcard Day and 150th Anniversary of Postcards by Christopher Arndt, etc.) and Pennsy and Jersey without the geographic specificity of the other categories (e.g., state map cards, stock images applicable to either state or one state in its entirety).
Within these geographical categories, we can see several other broad sub-categories:
Nature - plants, animals, landscapes, etc., without evidence of human activity or structures
“Civilization” - historical and contemporary sites/points of interest, transportation assets, gatherings, activities, etc.
Art - of all kinds, indoor and outdoor, large and small, whose content refers to these areas (e.g., Bucks County Impressionist) or are located in these areas (e.g., paintings/sculpture in the Philadelphia Museum of Art)
Ad/Commercial - cards informing of local products, services, or events
After her own review, Bridget asked me for eight final candidates for display in the article and I wrote back to her as follows:
Here are the eight cards I’ve pulled out (of the nearly 1,200 available) for your consideration.
Again, my primary interest in the article is sharing Postcrossing with people so that they see the positive possibilities in it and thus be inspired to send and receive postcards all over the world as I have. Of specific interest to our readers would be postcards of the Delaware Valley in particular and Jersey and Pennsy in general.
The first six are ones that I’ve SENT through Postcrossing to people all over the world.
My first card is the “Typical Postcrossing” card from PaperSisters. In whimsical pictorial format, it shows the entire life cycle of Postcrossing so people can see quickly what it’s all about. Anyone who ever had a pen pal as a kid can relate to this.
The next two are the Pennsy and Jersey State Map cards. All our readers can relate to these in several ways, especially seeing where they live and points of interest they can recognize and be proud of.
The next two are of quintessential Bucks County scenes, specifically the Michener Museum and the Penn’s Wood Tree with Bowman’s Hill Tower near Washington Crossing.
The next one is the Red Mill in Clinton, New Jersey, in Hunterdon County. It’s a classic that everyone knows about.
Lastly, I offer two international cards that I’ve RECEIVED from people through Postcrossing, specifically a sampler of classic colorful Portuguese tiles and a romantic gothic castle ruin in Slovakia in central Europe.
Bridget was curious about where I’d found this extensive collection of local and regional cards and we talked it over during one of our phone calls. These are “real life” (not online) sources in our region.
Wegmann’s Supermarket in Nazareth (PA) (see attached photos from a couple of days ago)
Doylestown Bookshop in Doylestown (PA)
Moravian Bookstore in Bethlehem (PA)
Museum Gift Shops (Philadelphia, Michener, Reading, Mercer, Moravian Tile, NJ State Museum in Trenton)
Newark Liberty Airport gift shop in Terminal “A” (NJ)
Washington Crossing State Park Visitor Center gift shop (both PA and NJ, but especially PA)
antique stores throughout the region (especially Lambertville (NJ), New Hope (PA), Chestnut Hill (PA))
Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine gift shop in Doylestown (PA)
Ad cards in general (vet office, supermarkets, post office lobbies, art galleries, etc.)
Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center (NJ)
Postcard books of New Jersey nature scenes by BrownTrout Publishers
Morristown National Historic Park Visitor Center (NJ)
Morris Arboretum gift shop in Philadelphia (PA)
Scranton (PA) National Historic Site (train museum)
Chadds Ford (PA) Historical Society Visitor Center
Bryn Athyn Cathedral in Bryn Athyn (PA)
I hope this gives a fuller picture of how the BCH article came about.
Next time, translation and development.
Happy Postcrossing,
Michael
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Congratulations on your great work 
Thank you Michael for sharing the link to me.
Thanks, Ham! You’re welcome.
And welcome to the Forum!
That’s really cool, and significant 
! Looking forward to see more wonderful postcards in the gallery. All the best for the future! Thank you for sharing the link to me. 
You’re welcome, Ying 
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