Old postcard, modern wall

Old postcard becomes a modern wall at the Cabildo.

Old postcards tell stories. The image on the front plays a part in the sender’s story. Any message written contributes to that story. Americans wrote so many postcards, publishers created cards featuring all sorts of places and things.

This postcard shows the back courtyard of the Cabildo, as it was in the late 1930s/early 1940s. We’ve written about this postcard before. One addition to that article: Louisiana News Company of New Orleans published it.

Postcard to Mural

Postcard mural on the second floor

I started on Thursday as a Cabildo Docent for the Friends of the Cabildo. I plan to take the FOC’s Tour Guide training next February, and become a licensed tour guide for the city. In the meantime, since there have been significant changes to my computer training gig, I have the time for more history-related projects. So, I spent some time with the coordinator of the docent program, learning things about the exhibits. I solo-ed this week. This is the perfect time of year for learning the ropes, as August isn’t a peak time for visitors. I worked the Docent Desk from 10am to noon. It’s your basic information desk, on the landing of main staircase, on the second floor. While nobody asked questions of me, I learned more about the various items in the collections.

As I walked around the second floor, I stood in front of this postcard. On a wall. On the WHOLE wall! You gotta love this.

• A photographer captures the Cabildo Courtyard.
• A postcard publisher bought the image.
• The publisher sent it to an artist who colorized it.
• The color image gets sold as a postcard.
• 80 years later, that postcard becomes a mural.

On most of my visits to the Cabildo in the last two or so years, I entered the museum, walked through the first floor exhibits, then to the elevator. The FOC tour guides meet on the second floor of the Arsenal building. So, I didn’t stop and make the time for the main second floor exhibits. After a walk-through, a lot of it came back to me, particular this mural.

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