Chance encounter sparks vast Kelso/Longview postcard collection
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 4:06 PM PST
By Brenda Blevins McCorkle
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe last place Michael Perry expected to find his own family heirlooms was at a Portland antique show. It was during his search through layer after layer of postcards at the booth that he made a discovery that sparked his interest — and a whole new hobby.
“There was one written to my grandmother from her then husband-to-be,” Perry said. “That one hooked me. I couldn’t believe it.”
The card, which had been stolen after his grandmother’s death, gave birth to a collection he has built of 1,000 postcards depicting the Kelso-Longview area.
Perry’s father was born in Kalama and spent time in Kelso while growing up. His mother was born and raised on a 40-acre farm in Kelso, a stone’s throw from the place where Perry and his wife now make their home.
View Slideshow of Postcards »
“She grew up right across the street from where I live,” he said. “I have nine of the 40 acres. That could be part of why I’m so intrigued by the history of Longview and Kelso.”
When he steps outside, Perry said he imagines what it was like for the people who lived there a century ago. His postcards allow him an even more intimate glimpse into that past.
You see these old picture postcards, and it makes you appreciate some of the things that we take for granted,” Perry said.
Snapshot memories
Perry’s collection traces the evolution of Longview and Kelso, including his own 63 years here.
“I look back now, and some of the memories that I have are triggered by the old postcards,” he said. “I have a lot of old history books, but a picture is worth a thousand words.”
The Weyerhaeuser Pulp Lab retiree said that starting out, he figured there would only be a dozen or so postcards for these relatively small Southwest Washington communities.
As he searched antique shows, estate sales and the Internet, he discovered the pictorial history of the area ran much deeper than he realized. Two of his albums alone hold about 500 cards each.
The first picture postcards were made around 1900, Perry said. They became popular around 1920.
“Everybody just always bought penny postcards and sent them to people whenever they went somewhere,” he said. “It was cheaper than a phone call.”
People who inherit old postcards sell them rather than throw them away, Perry said.
Many travelers wouldn’t even mail the cards, instead taking them home to show friends and family. Those are all over the country, and searching the Internet selling site, eBay, is the main way Perry has expanded the collection, buying from as far away as Florida, he said.
One of his favorites came from there. “The card says ‘Logging scene, Beck’s Camp near Kelso, Washington,’ ” Perry said.
The name intrigued him.
“My mother was June Beck and her father was John Beck,” he said. “The whole valley was full of Becks back then.”
He bought the card, scanned it in, and enlarged it for his mother. Although she didn’t recognize the scene, Perry’s aunt did.
“She looked at it and said, ‘Where did you get that picture? I have one just like it,’ ” Perry said. “She said, ‘That’s Uncle Fred.’ ”
History in hand
The family connection drew Perry into collecting, but love of local history has kept him going.
“The driver is that once you get hooked on the pictorial history of an area, it’s hard not to go after more,” he said.
He spends hours looking at the cards, organizing them in different ways, including subject matter and chronological order. For example, the progression of bridges across the Cowlitz River is chronicled in one section of his notebook. Those postcards start with an old bridge built across the river in 1905.
“It only lasted one year and washed out,” Perry said. “It had two draw spans that would rise up to let the ships through.”
Another bridge was built to connect Kelso and the then-town of Catlin. It was a cause for great celebration, and one of the postcards shows a crowd gathered for the inauguration of the span and entertainment provided by a man doing handstands atop the structure.
“The bridge was a big deal,” Perry said. “It tied the two towns together ... and they were able to do commerce across the river without too much trouble.”
Other cards chronicle the building of a steel structure to take the place of the wooden span and a flood logjam that brought the old bridge down before the new one was completed.
“Here they’re pulling cars out of the water,” Perry said, pointing out an example. “The cars went in the water and a bunch of people drowned.”
Even mud streets with wooden sidewalks were a sign of progress and something to write home about.
Other pieces of his collection show the more fun side of the towns, including smelt dipping. “It’s just such a great piece of the history of the area,” Perry said.
Some cards show oddities like the Royal Anne cherry tree that stood 44 feet tall and had a girth of more than 7 feet below the first limb. In 1907, it yielded 1,500 pounds of fruit to its lucky owners.
Another shows a family living in a stump in the Coal Creek area. The card reads, “floor inside of stump, 8 ½ by 13 feet with bunk room above,” Perry said. “And that’s home.”
Businesses of bygone days are saved on the cards: Gables Books in Kelso, and Woolworth’s and J.J. Newberry’s in Longview.
Perry spins stories from the cards for the Columbia River Reader, and he gives talks on the collection. “It makes you appreciate these things,” he said. “These people took pictures of the things they were the most proud of.”
| Title: Postcards Date: Dec. 1st, 2008 |
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