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CONCORD, N.H. - Curt Teich, a German immigrant and printer, began producing colorful linen-textured large-letter 'Greetings from' postcards in the early 1930s, and the Newberry Library in Chicago now holds the largest public collection of his work. Will Hansen, the library's curator of Americana, called Teich "kind of a genius" and said the company perfected a system of mass-producing large-letter cards, applying the idea that no town was too small to include. Teich's process emphasized saturated colors and simplified scenes that painted an enticing view of mid-20th-century America. The cards became widely popular in the 1940s through the 1960s as Americans embraced automobile travel; Hansen said they looked optimistic and matched a sense that the country was on an upward trajectory. Collectors prize the graphics: retired professor Peter Meggison has about 10,000 large-letter postcards, citing hometown New Bedford and a Saugatuck card with an artist's palette among his favorites. For many travelers the cards were an inexpensive way to share trips, and today mural-sized postcard images and social media posts echo the vintage designs; the Newberry even helped stage giant postcard backgrounds for The Eagles at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

Prepared by Emily Rhodes and reviewed by editorial team.