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In this episode I’m delighted to welcome back Ashli Ahrens of Mailbox Memories to talk about a First Day of Issue event she attended to celebrate the issue of the Post Office Mural stamp set. In the show Ashli refers to to a special giveaway she created. You can find her @mailboxmemories on IG.

A set of links to items mentioned during the show:

Evan Kalish’s Living New Deal post about the post office murals

USPS YouTube video of the Post Office Murals FDOI (1:11)

Post masters: Arkansas post office art in the New Deal by John Gill

Things to do in Piggott, Arkansas 

The Inn at Piggott

Jeff Bezos and the 10,000 postcards launched into space

First Day Cover address and dates

Santa Claus, Indiana

In this episode, Dr. Russ Romano talk about postcards and all the places that can take us. From his Postcards for Good to a world tour on The Partridge Family Bus, we cover a lot of ground on this show.

The Apollo 11 moon landing happened 50 years ago. And that event was memorialized in many ways — including on postcards. In this episode, I talk to preeminent postcard collector Mark Routh of Mark’s Postcard Chat. Of course, when I get a chance to talk to Mark, we also cover a lot of postcard collecting ground. Mark offers pointers about how to get the best cards in spinners; where to find collectable cards in obscure places; and securing cachets for your postcards.

Apollo 11 by Erick Sahler

In this episode, I chat with postcard enthusiast Magdalena Wojcicka. You know her on Instagram as Bohemian Me, Stamp and Away, and on her stamp jewelry site Travel Trinkets Canada.

Here’s the wooden Lantern Press postcard Magda sent me from The Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton, AB along with an actual photo Magda took of the hotel lobby.

After what started out to be a brief hiatus turned into a couple months of radio silence. But your host, Frank Roche, is back with a new show with three stories: one about a hand cancellation experience at a post office in Minnesota; a second story about a man who listened to short-wave radio during WWII and sent postcards to families if he hear their solider was alive; and a third about meth-laced postcards being sent to prisons. Yep. Welcome back.

Some stories just have to be told. This is one of those stories. I have the world’s largest collection of Bigfoot postcards. Here’s why.

Jim Lynch is a collector. He collected baseball cards. Football cards. basketball cards. Bottle caps. And postcards.

And he collects information. Jim is an active Postcrosser and participant in the currency tracking project, Where’s George?

He and I got together to talk (what else?)postcards. And a lot of other interesting topics. Now Jim has me searching through my collection looking for baseball park postcards.

Additional items in this episode:

Snail Mail Superstar’s one-year YouTube anniversary

Official Podcast Nerd sticker from Sara McNally at Constellation & Co.

Baseball park postcards

Willie McCovey

Pete Rose

Kayo Soda

Postcards for People Who Love Postcards. That’s the tagline of Jess Davis’s new online postcard store, The Snail’s Mail.

And in this show, it’s proof — once again — of the idea that postcards connect people. I connected with Jess in Episode 51, where we talked about the imminent launch of her online postcard store. Well…that moment came…and so as I mentioned on that initial show, I invited Jess back to talk about how the launch has gone and how she sees the postcard business in the near future.

But even before Episode 51, I connected to Jess last August through Postcards from the Edge, when I interviewed Kitty on Episodes 28 and 29. It’s all a big network of postcard enthusiasts, and I was fascinated to connect with someone all the way in New Zealand.

And I continue my fascination. Here we are in 2019…and Jess decided to spin up an online store to sell postcards. And that, my friends, gives me hope for postcards. The connections we make through postcards last…and the art on them can last a long time.

You know, part of the connection with postcards is that we get to know people. And if they have pets, we get to know them, too. This conversation starts in the middle of something I love about her Instagram site…photos of her Black Lab – Betty. I commented about how much I liked a picture she posted of Betty wearing a flower garland.

Connect with Jess by liking The Snail’s Mail on FB

And here’s Jess’s personal site on Instagram

I recently bought a couple lots from a postcard auction in Ireland. And that got me wondering about The World’s Most Expensive Postcard. And that led to another thing, and then another. Plus, I had a chat with Russ Romano of Postcards for Good, so I got that in there too.

Here are all the topics I cover in this show:

Guinness Book of World Records Most Expensive Postcard

The Picasso Postcard

Dear Data 

Peep Machine Pinups (yes, this is about postcards)

Bozo’s Circus Postcard Delivered After 41 Years

The Postcard in Transit for 53 Years

Postcards for Good