Collections & Exhibits

Exhibits

To start off, feel free to browse through the map or the current exhibits below, specifically curated to draw connections between cards, common themes and the people -- mostly jeunes filles -- who dispatched and received them:

  • Professions of the jeune fille : A variety of women recipients of postcards (of different card series) containing images related to ("future") careers for women and their "domestic roles".
  • Friendships :A glance into the nature of various correspondances, mostly friendships between jeunes filles, as displayed through series (or parts of series) of postcards.
  • Family: Very few postcards were dispatched among family members, much less male family members. However, this exposition, which explores a handful of cards sent to (and by) the Renvoyé family, gives a glimpse into a curious and less common correspondance.
  • Coded Postcard Messages: Certain postcards reveal potential coded messages and meta-messages that, with close reading and consideration of text embedded in images, lend themselves to interesting interpretations of the relationships between certain jeune fille senders and recipients. 

Collections

Each collection displays a (complete or partial) postcard series. Series, which often include up to ten cards, tend to craft a narrative about its subject, usually the jeune fille. Series also tend to be sent by and to the same people and give more information about a particular correspondance over time and distance. There is seldom a relationship between the content of the postcard series and the messages written on them; however, there are some exceptions to this.