Amy Nicolai, Collecting Minnesota’s Musical Past
For Amy Nicolai, postcard collecting began with a search for something that was difficult to find anywhere else: the early history of music in Minnesota.
With relatively few books documenting the years before rock and roll, Amy began exploring unconventional historical sources, including newspaper archives, antique sheet music, advertising and eventually postcards. She discovered that postcards could preserve images of bands, music stores, hotels, ballrooms, cafes and other places where people once gathered to hear music.
Today, Minnesota music history remains the heart of her collection, but like many collectors, Amy has branched out. She also searches for postcards connected to her family’s history and the small towns where her ancestors lived.
There is always the possibility that an ordinary street scene from 1908 might contain something extraordinary. Maybe even a familiar face.
