Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken before 1914

This is a postcard to Philip Zilcken by Barbara Elisabeth van Houten. Look, here’s the address, written in elegant cursive. I'm always interested in how marks come into being. With this postcard, I'm thinking about the postal worker making their marks on top of van Houten’s marks. Look at the circular date stamp – it’s so neat and orderly, almost like a little painting in itself. Then there’s that blue stamp in the corner with the lion. It’s like the postal service is adding its own layer of meaning to the card. Maybe van Houten was thinking about how her message would travel through space and time, carried by the postal system. I imagine her considering the weight of her words as they journey to reach their destination. Maybe she even hoped her message would last for years. It did! Now it's 2024 and we're all looking at it!