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“NEVER FELT BETTER” - Same, tbh

I love all things old. All things forgotten. All things weird. All things… sentimental.

I attended college in Denton, Texas. Near where I went to school was this historical town square filled with all sorts of shops, with a grand courthouse in the center of it all. On one side, near a coffee shop and second-hand bookstore I frequented, was this gigantic antique shop. It was filled, wall to wall with odds and ends, and even had a basement filled with gems and garbage, treasures and trash.

On one of the many occasions that I passed the time within those walls, I came across this little endcap with a couple of big plastic bins filled with old photos, letters, and postcards. At first, this struck me as really odd. Surely these meant something to someone, right? I could understand throwing away a letter or even a postcard - heaven knows I’ve thrown away dozens of Christmas cards, birthday wishes, and invitations. But… family photos? Letters from loved ones? I had a hard time reconciling that those could get thrown out.

The best I could figure, the people who got rid of these just didn’t have space for them anymore. Or… hell, maybe they died. But it fascinated me. I stood there, flipping through all of them, imagining the lives and circumstances behind each photo, each letter, each postcard. This stuck with me for years. I’ve often lamented the loss of the handwritten letter for the speed and convenience of modern communication. I’m no luddite, and I surely appreciate that I can connect with virtually anyone in the world on a whim. But, as someone who struggles with maintaining interpersonal relationships, the sentimentality and personal touch of a letter really tugs at me, emotionally.

So I told myself that one day, I’d collect up some things like that. Photos, letters, postcards, something. I’d try to capture and share, or at least record for my own sake, the feeling that I would get when I would find these.

There’s an even bigger antique shop near where I live now, and wouldn’t you know - there’s a couple of giant plastic tubs with postcards. I spent some time this weekend surfing through them, trying to find some that were interesting: either in their written content or the postcard image itself. It’s like a little game, a little treasure hunt. I found a good handful, took some photos of them, and have spent some time deciphering their written content and noting some interesting bits about them to share with you all now.

I hope you have as much fun as I did, or walk away feeling some appreciation for the magic of the written word, and how we can share our thoughts with each other with these funny little symbols.

To start, here’s the flip-side of “NEVER FELT BETTER”, with the text and some findings to follow:

NEVER FELT BETTER

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“NEVER FELT BETTER”, front side

This card, dated 1961-07-13 and postmarked on the same date at 4pm, was sent from from Tim, Teresa (?), and Lola in Massachusetts (I assume Boston) to a Mr. William C. in Chicago, Illinois.

The contents:

“NEVER FELT BETTER”

Love to all.

The front side features, as the card puts it:

This unique picture showing Boston Light House was taken from the stern of a new yacht while going at full speed.

This card seems super simple at face value, but it’s the perfect example of why I love finding things like this. Immediately, all sorts of questions come to mind. Did they ride in a yacht, toward this very lighthouse in Boston? Are they just feeling great and thought the card looked cool? There’s so much more room on the card to write, but they just said they NEVER FELT BETTER and want to send love to all. All, who? It’s just addressed to William! I’ve only ever been to Boston in the winter, but I can imagine how it must be like, in the 60s and in the summer, to be on the water and enjoying life.

George’s Train

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George’s model train

The front of this postcard, as you can see, is a picture of a model train. As far as I can tell, from the picture and some text on the back of the card, it is a JNR Class C56 Locomotive, of which 164 were produced from 1935-1939. Here again, another example of why this is so fun. Would I have ever known about this particular locomotive’s existence without stumbling across this? Hell no! In fact, the train is what drew me to it. I had no idea what to expect, and the back of the card doesn’t do much to explain the “why”, other than… maybe our recipient just loved trains:

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I really hope Barbara ended up feeling better. And… interested in trading what, exactly?

This postcard, dated 6/9 and postmarked 11 Jun 1978 was sent from Barbara F in or around Brooklyn, NY to George K in Philadelphia, PA. Before we get to the contents, here’s some interesting things I noticed about this one:

• The stamp is a 10-cent stamp, produced in 1977. It was a part of the Americana Series of stamps by the USPS, and features the phrase “People’s Right to Petition for Redress” and an image of James Earle Fraser’s statue “Contemplation of Justice”. According to The Postal Museum it promotes the People’s right to petition. More information about the statue can be found here. Apparently this series was not too popular with the people, despite the subject matter. I wonder what Barbara made of it.
• I have no idea where this card came from. A reverse image search for it only resulted in a French eBay listing that didn’t give me much detail. But it describes the image of the train in Swedish, so I assume the card was from Sweden? It was printed in Spain, however, and features COPYRIGHT on the bottom in English.
• There’s tons of shorthand here that you don’t see anymore. Because of limited space, you’ll see things like f/t (“For the”), B.D. (“birthday”), and rec'd (“received”). Here’s another interesting case of old shorthand.

The text reads,

Hi George,

Just a quick note to thank you f/t beautiful B.D. card rec’d a few days ago. It was real pretty!

Hope you’ve been better than I have so not too well lately.

Can I assume you are no longer interested in trading?

In any case, keep well, take care.

Regards,

Barbara F.

There’s a fair bit to unpack here, and the tone of the postcard is all over the place - not to mention it clashes with what looks to be a cheery train on the front! Some questions that come to mind:

• Is Barbara okay? Someone check on Barbara. She’s hoping George is doing better than her, and she hasn’t been too well lately. This feels like a cry for help - George, you better have replied to check on her!
• I have no earthly idea what she means by trading. Trains? Cards? Dates? Numbers? Lives? And why is it that she can assume that? We only have one half of the conversation, but maybe there’s some tension here. In my head canon, they were once in love lol.
• I really want to know what’s up with the train. The simplest explanation is just that George likes them. The more fun interpretation is that it is some sort of inside joke or something. We’ll never know.

Pitstop in Paris

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I love this outfit and want one like it please and thank you.

Now, now. I know what you’re thinking: this looks nothing like Paris! Trust me, our sender might be just as lost as we are! 😝 Nah, there’s a fair explanation. Behold:

Sent from Jerry in Paris, on 6/12/1991 to his mother in Napa, California, USA.

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Okay that makes sense. Kinda. Jerry could have elaborated a little.

The text reads,

Hi Mom,

Greetings from Paris - Almost finished with this trip to Central Africa.

Hope you’re in good health & spirits! Enjoy the day!

Love,

Jerry.

The explanation I came up with after reading this is that Jerry is on some grand globe-trotting adventure from some origin point to… somewhere in Central Africa, and is taking a quick pitstop in Paris, France. I can’t imagine this is the most efficient way to get from, I assume, the United States to Central Africa…. but again, maybe just a fun pitstop.

Jerry, you had so much space to write here. You could have said so much more! But, it is sweet to see him writing to his Mom and wishing her well from all the way across the world.

This is the part of this little hobby that is both great and frustrating. Your mind can wander, fill in little gaps, but sometimes there’s just not nearly enough information to go off of. “Almost finished”? So, wait, is he talking about being almost done with just getting to Central Africa, or his trip in general? And, I wonder what is taking him all over in the first place. Maybe a walkabout, maybe business, maybe study. It’s anyone’s guess.

Here’s some interesting bits from the back of the card:

• The top of the card reads, in French: Colors of Cameroon - Cameroon, being in Central Africa. Maybe this was where Jerry was headed! Interesting that he was able to get a postcard with a photo from the destination we assume he’s got! Maybe he got this from a museum gift shop, is my guess.
• The second line reads, in French: Nzeu costume in Bamileke country. The Bamileke people inhabit a place commonly known as the grassfields of Cameroon. It means People of Faith. More info can be found here.
• Par Avion indicates this was sent via airmail, which I would expect.
• It looks like Jerry paid 3.50 francs in 1991 to send this letter. France was part of the EU, but the Euro had not yet been introduced - that wouldn’t happen until 1999. Adjusted, to the best of my ability, this would have cost him about $1 today. I could be wildly off here, but I learned a good deal about the EU and the Euro while trying to find an answer for this. It’s super interesting, go learn!
• The stamps here feature “Marianne”, apparently a famous symbol of the French republic. She is the national emblem of France, representing liberty, reason, and the ideals of the Republic. Her image appears frequently on stamps, coins, and government documents of France. From what I can tell, the stamps here were part of the “Liberte” series of stamps from around that time.

Closing Thoughts

I hope I was able to, at best, spark your interest in slowing down and appreciating the things that came before us. We create and discard so much, and even in the smallest things there can be so much to learn from and imagine. This is just a small handful of the postcards I picked up, and I definitely plan to share more of them soon. Just with these three cards I learned about French history, trains, Cameroon, and that out there somewhere three people NEVER FELT BETTER.

This was my first stab at writing about these discarded things, and I hope to do it more frequently, and with more varied items. Old ads, family photos, discarded notes or grocery lists. Anything that can be proof that there was someone, somewhere, that did something. For some reason that just fascinates me. I hope someone else enjoys this as much as I did.

And if you’re itching for more stuff like this and I haven’t posted more, maybe you’ll like the FoundPaper subreddit.

Take care,

- D.