A Library Postcard With Multiple Personal Connections

As I have mentioned in previous posts about my library postcard collecting interests, I am particularly interested in the message side of postcards especially if the message relates to libraries or library postcard collecting. One such postcard in my collection has multiple personal and library related connections. The postcard (shown above) depicts the interior of the Greenville County (SC) Library. I served as Director of the library from 1974 to 1980, and I have a number of these postcards which are unused. This postcard was mailed on Dec. 5, 1983 by Martha Jane Zachert from Columbia, SC to Dan Lester in Durango, CO. At the time Martha Jane was on the faculty of the University of South Carolina Library School and Dan was Director of the Fort Lewis College Library in Durango. I've shared an interest in collecting librariana with Dan for a number of years and I recently wrote about his library postcard collection. Although our careers overlapped in South Carolina, it has only been recently that I have connected with Martha Jane and discovered out shared interest in library history and philately. My final connection to this postcard is the America's Libraries stamp. I'm an avid collector of first day covers and other postal items with this stamp, and have even created an exhibit of those items. It's use on a postcard during this time period is unusual in that it is a first class postage stamp and overpays the postcard rate.