Petercsák Tivadar: Várak és múzeumok - Studia Agriensia 29. (Eger, 2010)
Honismeret a képes levelezőlapokon
STUDYING HUNGARY THROUGH POSTCARDS Today picture postcards are published in their millions for the purpose of allowing the sender to pass on their greetings and best wishes. By 1980 the picture postcard, courtesy of a history stretching back 110 years, had also become a thing of some cultural historical importance. The Zemplén Museum in Szerencs is the only place in Hungary that can claim to have a collection of 650,000 postcards. Dating from the 1880s onwards they cover many themes and come from numerous countries. Apart from reflecting the tastes of the period in which they were made, picture postcards also contain illustrative material that is useful to historians and local historians alike. The Szerencs picture postcard collection is made up mainly of townscapes and pictures of the countryside. Postcards can be found of every single Hungarian settlement, and there is scarcely a country in the world that is not represented. Of particular interest to local historians are the postcards dating from the end of the 19th century and the turn of the 20th century. The most popular themes are connected with transport and the depiction of vehicles. Postcards illustrating Hungarian industrial plants, factories and mines appear as early as the late 1880s. Numerous postcards were made to mark events of local and national importance, and anniversaries. By the end of the 19th century postcard series were being published for world trade fairs and exhibitions. There were also postcards marking national and regional events, the opening of new buildings, even national catastrophes. Picture postcards also provide useful information to those interested in folk art and rural life. Today those postcards of actors and theatrical scenes that were made at the turn of the 20"' century are considered to be of cultural historical significance. 51
