On the 1^st of October 1869, by order of the Austro-Hungarian Post Office, the ‘correspondent card’, the first postal item called a postcard, appeared.

In 1874, at the Universal Postal Congress in Bern, twenty-two countries, including Russia, signed a universal postal convention and adopted a single 9x14 cm format for the open letter. Since 1904, the left half of the postcard's rear side was reserved for the letter and the right one – for the address. The images, which were the reason why postcards were valued, remained untouched.

In Russia, with its vast distances, postcards also played an educational role. They printed calendars, geographical maps, reproductions of the works by prominent artists and sculptors and portraits of well-known people. Postcards with portraits of the reigning family were printed in large print runs. After the Great October revolution, postcards were declared bourgeois prejudice in the Soviet Union. From 1935, and during the period preceding the Great Patriotic War, the production of illustrated postcards became quite limited in the country. A photo postcard occupied the central place.

However, over time, postcards manufacturing resumed. Mass production of the Soviet greeting cards was launched in 1953.

Dramatic spate occurred at the early 21^st century. Post cards of huge formats (A4, A3) appeared. They were meant for parties, weddings and anniversaries.

Cards with jokes and funny gags and cards of complicated shapes were very popular. Personalized postcards appeared – not just “Congratulations”, but “to the dearest dad” or “to the best friend”, postcards with the jubilee figures appeared and were very popular. It would seem that with the rapid development of scientific and technological progress and the advent of modern communication means, the age of a paper postcard ends and goes down in history, and electronic postcard replaces a paper one, but at that point the Deltiology makes a new round – Post-crossing appears and handmade postcards come into fashion.

In other words, the historical age of paper postcards continues. They are preserved in family archives, among collectors, in museums’ repositories and libraries. They present valuable historical documentary material that has not yet been fully investigated. Many interesting details not only for historians, but for writers, artists, ethnographers, and journalists as well can be found while studying postcards.

To mark the 155^th anniversary of the first postcard, the album made up of postcards from the museum Collection section “Prints” is posted in the Photo Gallery.