Boring Postcards

Carto-friend and blogger, Michael5000, and Mrs. 5000, like to collect boring postcards. In the introduction to his series of posts on boring postcards, he attempts to define a boring postcard:

Although there are no universal rules, common characteristics of the properly boring postcard might be:

• it shows an "attraction" that no one would ever actually want to visit
• the attraction lacks visual interest
• the attraction is something that is common as dirt
• a genuinely interesting attraction is made to look uninteresting
• the image is poorly photographed or framed
• text on the postcard carries an unintentional pathos or irony

Also, although every era produces its own boring postcards, our favorites tend to be from before 1970.

Mrs. 5000 offers this addition to the definition:

One endearing trait of boring postcards is their essential optimism. The more banal the diner façade, the more featureless the Minnesota lake, the more poignant is its presence on a postcard. Someone wanted you to love it and remember it. Or at least to recognize it and return.

The 5000s saw these three boring map postcards and immediately thought of me.

Why, thank you!

It is not that Michigan, Minnesota or Ohio are boring places to visit. Quite the contrary! But I have to agree that there is nothing about these map postcards that will entice a tourist to agree with "Wish You Were Here!"

Here are some slightly more interesting map postcards of Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio.



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Lost States Revisited

Back in 2008 I was excited to tell you about a little book about states the might-have-been. Michael Trinklein's Lost States: Real Quests for American Statehood was a small but amusing soft-cover collection of maps and stories about almost-ran states like Franklin, Lincoln and Jefferson (why should Washington get all the love?). Alas, that book is now out of print (sure to become a collector's item). Fear not cartophiles, the author has a new edition of the book, expanded with new maps and new stories, in a beautiful hard cover from Quirk Books.*

Lost States: True Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania, and Other States That Never Made it



The cover unfolds into a map poster!

Among the stories told - the proposed State of Navajo:



While the intent was to give the people of the Navajo Nation greater representation, one of the biggest drawbacks would be the elimination of the Four Corners!

Some folks have different ideas on how to divide the Minnesota Territory:



Wiser heads prevailed. (What a barren wasteland West Dakota might have been...)

When rivers change their course, it sometimes takes decades for nations to sort out their borders, creating opportunity:



These stories and maps and more can be found in Lost States. I would love to scan and post more of these maps, but I'm sure Mr. Trinklein and his publisher would object... fortunately, they have started a new Lost States Blog to promote the book, reproducing more of the maps.



More videos from Lost States.

*Full disclosure, the publisher sent a review copy to me, but I would have most certainly purchased a copy if they had not.

Minnesota: Biggest Turkey State

According the National Geographic, Minnesota is the number one turkey producing state, closely followed by North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, and California. Meanwhile, the top producers of cranberries are Wisconsin and Massachusetts.

Today, I am thankful for all my Carto-friends. Thanks for stopping by!

Explore Minnesota

This week, the Republican National Convention will be held in St. Paul, Minnesota. Unfortunately, I only have one Minnesota postcard in my collection:



Minnesota post card collectors: I like to trade.

I have visited Minnesota twice, but only for a short time. Once, back when I was briefly living in Wisconsin, we took a drive along Lake Pepin, which is the widest spot in the Mississippi River, on the Wisconsin-Minnesota border.



Several years later, I attended a wedding in Minneapolis. We were only in town for the weekend. The hotel was near the Mall of America, and that was the extent of our sightseeing.



Minnesota is one of those states that I would like to visit again. I'm sure there's more to see... Perhaps one of these days.

Land o' the Free

"When the mercury rises, it's all about freedom—to hit the road, float a lazy river, down a cold one in a mountain saloon, climb a crag or two, munch some local grub, cast for lunkers, watch the sunset from a seaside lodge."

I recently came across a July 2003 issue of Outside Magazine featuring descriptions of ten different summer road trips across the United States. Each road trip profiles the route, including "Adventure Stops", "Top Digs" (motels), "Best Eats", other "Don't Miss" opportunities, as well as recommendations for road tunes "On the Stereo"

Unfortunately, with the price of gas in 2008, I will content myself with the article illustrations by Zohar Lazar. Each article includes an illustrated map, designed to look like one of the old "Wish You Were Here" postcards.

These aren't postcards, but they should be!


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