To mark the European Heritage Days, the Rocha Peixoto Municipal Library organized, this Thursday, a conference on "The Postcard in Local History". The event took place between September 18 and 27.
The conference was led by Raul Leitão, president of the Associação Poveira de Coleccionismo and the Associação Cultural Póvoa Ontem e Hoje, a bibliophile and collector of iconographic and documentary heritage. It included the participation of the Vice-President of the Câmara Municipal da Póvoa de Varzim, Octávio Correia.
Raul Leitão explained that the postcard, beyond being a means of communication and a tourist souvenir, is a fundamental visual document for understanding the urban, social, and human evolution of communities. Given its historical and artistic dimension, the postcard is today also an object of cult sought after by many collectors (cartophily).
This iconic object, first circulated in Austria-Hungary on October 1, 1869, arrived in Portugal in the late 19th century. In Póvoa de Varzim, illustrated postcards, especially the older ones, bear witness to the transformations in the territory and record accounts and memories from other times, thus being essential documents for understanding Local History from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century.
The collection of the Rocha Peixoto Municipal Library includes several illustrated postcards (circulated and uncirculated), notably in donated estates and small private acquisitions.
