Union Terminal, Cincinnati

Last weekend, our family took a day trip to visit some friends in Cincinnati. I brought the Cincinnati postcards. Of the 18 cards, only 6 had writing on them. The earliest card was printed in 1909 and the latest, 1964. There are several series of prints in the collection, including a group of five cards from 1940-1942. Three were printed by the same company, Cincinnati Postal Views Distributors, and two by Kraemer Art Company in Cincinnati. They all are "views," offset print, and part of the Linen Era (1930-1950) of postcards. What caught my attention, however, was not the image on the front, but rather the line of communication on the back. ​

The first card is the only in the Cincinnati collection addressed to my grandma, Miss Barbara Crosby 3939 Helena Ave., Youngstown Ohio.

​It reads, "9/29/40 Here we are in a fine city after 280 miles of grand roads and an exceptional day. Cooler tonight as we walked by, the [s]plash of this fountain made cold shivers run down my spine. From here we go to Columbus for a day or so,...then home. Hope you are all well. Sincerely, Dave and Lou Johnson." 

:The other four cards offer a peculiar insight into relationship and travel:

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To Miss Laura Crosby 341 N 43rd St., Ashtabula Ohio
"Aug 24 1942 Arrived here 6:30 pm came to Gibson and it is a very nice convenient hotel. good many people here for a convention - last night it was cold nearly froze and didn't know enough to look in bottom dresser drawer for blanket - We could not get a seat in Pullman to Cleveland but did get one from C- to Cincinnati - people are really travelling especially colored people. Must be moving south to avoid cold weather. Thank all for a good visit - Love to all. Bess -"

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To Mr. F. E. Crosby 341 N 43rd St., Ashtabula Ohio
"Aug 24 1942 Cold here this morning - travel heavy for all points, lots of soldiers moving - we had us trouble getting seats in day coach to Cleveland. Train on time and us spare time - We are leaving Tuesday for Nashville Tenn then home - Will went out to market but found nothing in shape of bay - I told him it was too early - Hope we did not tire you - am so glad ou are napping daily. Love from both of us. Bessie"
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To Mr. F. E. Crosby 341 N 43rd St. Ashtabula Ohio
"Aug 25 1942 We have reservations in Jacksonville tonight, changed our mind about going to Nashville - Hope you continued to improve. I will be in fine shape when time comes to go to St. Petersburg. Love from both of us. Mac"

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To Mr F. E. Crosby, 341 N 43rd St. Ashtabula Ohio
"Aug 25 1942 Still cold but good walking weather - We change our minds about going to Nashville and got reservations south/had no trouble - leaving tonight-thank ou for making our stay so pleasant and restful. Hope you and Laura can relax for a breathing spell - we were glad to get a Florida paper here this morning - still hot - put flowers on Mother's resting place the 28th for me - will mail ck - Love to all Bess -"

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When I first read these cards, I was struck by the similarity between the messages on these cards and the way that we use text to update family and friends of our travels - how they're going, any changes, well wishes. I was intrigued by the time stamps on the cards, and that Bess wrote separate cards at the same time to two people living at the same residence. As if they wouldn't see the back of the card, unlike a letter, sealed and secret only to the opener. And also that these cards were all written and sent within a 24 hour span. Instant updates, days later. Although, my mom pointed out, the mail service was probably more reliable than it is now. These are all things we now accomplish by text. Even sending a personal experience with the "view" on the other side, like the fountain on the card to my grandma, is accomplished with picture text. Go somewhere beautiful? Take a picture, text it or post it to Facebook with a short response. Instantaneous shared memory. 

What is different about the act of purchasing and writing a postcard?

1/23/16 On our way home from Cincy. Good visit with Waseem and Chelsea. Oudai is getting so big! He and Jonah played. Went to the museum. The boys loved the water and climbing wall...and the trains! Hoping to take a train trip together to Chicago soon. Kids sleeping now. Love, Ruth

I bought my own postcard from the Union Terminal. In 1942 it was a train station. Now it the Museum Center. The wings of the building, each now a separate museum, were once the driveways. The Museum of Natural History and Science was once the inbound lanes and the Cincinnati History Museum the outbound. The train station is now the Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX Theater, Children's Museum, and Cincinnati Historical Society Library. If you take the elevator to the top floor and go up an additional set of stairs, you can see the train yards (the very first place we went). 

No longer is Union Terminal a stopping point between destination, but a destination itself. How much has changed since 1942? Looking between my postcards from the 1940s and the replica of Cincinnati on display in the history museum from the same time frame establishes a bizarre sense of time. Walking into an exhibit of life during the second world war, complete with street car, when today the city is in process of rebuilding the street car line. Looking back and going forward with the same image, artifact, relationship. I suspect that Union Terminal, regardless of whether it is a train station or a museum center, has always had the same buzz of people moving about: mothers chasing after children, people watchers resting on benches, workers moving about through corridors and doorways only they know, groups of out-of-towners staring and pointing and taking pictures, people coming, people going. ​

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Making versus Buying Memory

I knew I wanted to visit the places on the cards I brought with me on our trip to Cincinnati. I am not particularly familiar with the city. Marc spent two years at University of Cincinnati, and I only visited him twice, maybe three times. Our friends, however, immediately recognized each of the images. We decided to go to the Museum Center at Union Terminal, since we both have young children. Chelsea worked there, so we had our own private guide. She knew all the best views, the best routes through the building, back stairwells, the tour guide spiel, and private spaces for nursing. So from the get go, I set out to document the building as it exists in 2016. What was different? What was the same? Ten minutes in, however, the energy it takes to guide a three year old through a public space and care for a baby took charge. My focus changed, and by the end of our visit I did not know what to take away. We had a fun (read exhausting) day. We caught up with friends. But what progress was made on these postcards? 

Although I purchased a postcard of the exterior of the Museum Center (not much has changed in that view since the previous card), it is not the "view" that captures my memories. Yes, I can document what happened during our visit on this card. But, when I think about and remember this visit, it is captured in a pattern of primary colors.  Sitting down a week later to put image to this impression, I returned to a memory of Aida playing with a series of brightly colored, plastic toys at the water table in the Children's Museum. Between the shapes, I could see our friends and Jonah and his dad playing on the opposite side of the water. It brings back the din of children's voices and the smell of the chlorinated water,  All these things - the color, the pattern, the smell, the sound - elicit memories not only of this particular day, but a string of memories associated with our friends: visiting Ali Baba's between classes, cooking and eating together, serving tea, our introduction to the rituals of gift giving, Jonah starting to ask what things are called in Arabic, walking alongside our friends as they speak Arabic with Marc, taking wedding pictures by the pond in front of Noor... There is a personal history, yet none but me would know.

Buying a postcard is a way to share what we did, but creating my own is a way to mark the making of memories. Will I send this image to someone? Probably not. 

Coming up soon:
-exploring collections and what it means to inherit and subsume a collection not my own
-postcards of Columbus, following an upcoming trip
-curating my own collection and Kotryna Ula Kiliulyte's Postcards from Home series.