I concur. At Fort Riley, Kansas, we have the complete "footprint"
(foundations, gas lines, streets, etc.) of a town that only existed for 8
years at the beginning of the 20th century. It is currently buried under a
1/2 to 1 meter layer of silt. We have used and are using historic postcards
to pin down the locations of specific stores, restaurants, and theatres by
comparing photos and postcard with the plat map and with the subsurface
image we have developed using remote sensing. BTW, if anyone out there is a
telephone book collector, we're looking for styreet addresses in that town,
Army City, KS.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Austin, Stephen P SWF [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2000 7:24 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: Postal increase dates
>
> Not strictly limited to architectural history - there most certainly is
> the
> archaeology of still standing structures and the use of such documents as
> part of the archival record.  Additionally, postcards etc. are wonderful
> when studied anthropologically - as in one particular state and city where
> a
> Confederate monument is prominent in postcards just after the war between
> the states but progressively recedes far into the background in latter
> years
> until it is almost invisible.
>
> Stephen P. Austin
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: William & Irene J. Henry [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2000 7:19 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Postal increase dates
>
>
> Bob Schulyler wrote:
> "Post cards are a very important source for historical archaeology of the
> late 19th (looking backwards) and 20th centuries, especially the earlier
> local images of stores, home, street scapes and public buildings."
>
> Funny, where I come from this is not historical archaeology but
> architectural history...
>
> Irene Jackson Henry, RA, NCARB