What Alabama postcard collectors look for
Alabama collectors, like collectors of every state, prize the small and the specific: the main street of a county seat with wagons parked along it, a depot with the train in, a general store with its owner on the porch. Many Alabama towns were photographed for postcards only a handful of times, and a clear real photo view of one can be a genuine find.
The state's geography shapes its postcards. The Tennessee Valley in the north, the mineral district around Birmingham, the cotton country of the Black Belt across the center, the piney woods of the south and the Gulf Coast around Mobile Bay each produced different kinds of views.
Iron, steel and coal
Birmingham grew from a new town in the 1870s into one of the South's great industrial cities, built on the iron ore, coal and limestone found close together in the surrounding hills. Postcards of blast furnaces, steel mills, coke ovens, mining camps and company towns in the Birmingham district document that growth. Real photos of mine crews and furnace workers are especially sought after, as are views of the mining communities that grew up around the works.
Cotton and the Black Belt
Cotton dominated much of Alabama's economy in the early twentieth century, and postcards show it at every stage: fields at picking time, wagons piled high at the gin, bales stacked on wharves and at depots, and cotton warehouses in market towns. Real photo cards of cotton gins and market days in small towns are among the most interesting Alabama agricultural cards.
Rivers and the Gulf
Before good roads, Alabama's rivers carried cotton, timber and passengers. Steamboat landings, river towns, bridges and ferries appear on early cards. Mobile, the state's port, produced views of the waterfront, shipping, the downtown and the surrounding bay towns, and the Gulf Coast produced resort and fishing cards that continued into the linen and chrome eras.
Mills and timber
Textile mill villages, with rows of company houses around a mill, appear on real photo cards from towns across the state. Lumber mills and turpentine operations in the southern pine forests were also photographed. These industrial cards are part of what makes Alabama collections interesting.
Events and change
Floods, fires and storms in Alabama towns were photographed for postcards just as they were elsewhere, and local disaster cards are prized by collectors. Views of new courthouses, schools, bridges and paved streets document how towns changed through the 1910s and 1920s.
What is common
Printed views of large public buildings, hotels and parks in the biggest cities were produced in quantity, and so were later linen and chrome tourist cards of the Gulf Coast. These are welcome in a collection but individually modest in value.
Alabama postcards in a family collection
Many Alabama collections are family albums from the early 1900s, mixing local views with cards from relatives elsewhere and holiday greetings. When I look at one, I start with the real photographs: small towns, work scenes, depots and events. The real photo guide explains how to spot them.
Places and subjects to look for
- The Birmingham district: furnaces, rolling mills, coke ovens, ore mines and the surrounding company towns.
- The Tennessee Valley: river towns, bridges and the early dam and power projects around Muscle Shoals.
- Black Belt market towns: courthouse squares, cotton gins, warehouses and depots on market days.
- The Wiregrass and piney woods: sawmills, turpentine stills and small railroad towns in the south.
- Mobile and the bay: the waterfront, steamers, the docks and the Eastern Shore resort towns.
- College towns and state institutions: campus views, early buildings and student life.
Real photos versus printed views in Alabama
Publishers printed views of Alabama's larger cities in quantity, so a printed card of a Birmingham office building or a Montgomery landmark is usually common. Real photo postcards were different: they were made by local and traveling photographers who visited small towns, mills and farms that publishers never bothered with. A real photo of a crossroads store in a rural county may be the only image of it anywhere, and that is why Alabama collectors look so closely at the gray, plain-looking cards in an album.
More questions
Are cotton gin postcards collectible? Yes. Real photos of gins, wagons and market days are popular with collectors of Southern agriculture and of the towns themselves.
Are Alabama textile mill village postcards valuable? Real photos of mills and their villages are collected, especially identified ones.
What if my collection mixes Alabama cards with other states? That is normal. Describe the whole collection; the quote covers everything together.
Questions about Alabama postcards
Are old Birmingham postcards valuable? Common printed downtown views are modest in value; real photos of steel works, mines and neighborhoods are more interesting.
What about Mobile postcards? Waterfront, shipping and early street scenes are collected; common hotel and park views less so.
Do you buy Alabama postcard collections? Yes, complete collections from anywhere in the state, by mail.
Are Alabama depot postcards collectible? Yes, especially real photos of small-town depots with trains and people.