Postcards are a source of visual information about any landscape. Of course, as with any piece of material, you have to take a critical look at it. Does the image accurately reflect the building layouts? What role does perspective take, particularly within the context of the postcard? Birds-eye views of campuses were popular in the 1910s–but how accurate were they? The College Archives has a collection of postcards that represent the campus over a period of time. Images from our collection can be found at: http://clio.fivecolleges.edu/smith/postcards/. Simply click on the name of a building or campus location on the drop-down screen to see selected images.
Do you believe these images accurately represent the campus?
