Shaw Manor · Next Door · The Post Office

The Post Office

Wooden pigeonholes, a sticky rubber stamp and a slot that keeps swallowing letters. Some of this mail never got where it was going. Some of it came back.

Pigeonhole E · Now open by the counter

The Postcard Rack

87 cards · 10 albums · flip them over to read the backs Paris, KYLexington & the BluegrassGreetings from Kentucky“In Old Kentucky”Kentucky WondersLouisville & Churchill DownsAround Kentucky & BeyondFamily MailMailedComic Cards Greetings from Paris and big-letter Greetings from Kentucky, moonshine stills, Mammoth Cave, Churchill Downs, Keeneland, a 1905 note to Geo. T. Stagg Co., Great-Grandpa Youie Shaw’s card from Grandpa Teddy, and a bear in hot pursuit. Open the rack →
Pigeonhole A

Greetings from Kentucky

Old picture postcards from home and up the road. Titles are given as printed on the cards.

Postcard of the brick Post Office in Paris, Kentucky, with arched windows, stone steps and lamp posts
Featured from the Postcard Rack“Post Office, Paris, Ky.”The Post Office, on a postcard: red brick, tall arched windows, columns at the door, stone steps and a lamp post on either side. The title is as printed. From the Postcard Rack →
Vintage postcard of the brick Y.M.C.A. building in Paris, Kentucky, with a church steeple
“Y.M.C.A., Paris, Ky.”Postcard · title as printed

The brick Y with a church steeple down the street. Home-town mail.

Vintage night-time postcard of Main Street, Lexington, Kentucky, looking east
“Main Street Looking East, at Night, Lexington, Ky.”Postcard · title as printed

Lit windows, glowing street lamps and a Coca-Cola sign, after dark.

Two linen postcards titled Blue Grass Stock Farm In Old Kentucky, with horses, white fences and a stone well
“Blue Grass Stock Farm ‘In Old Kentucky’”Two linen postcards

Horses in the pasture, white fences and a stone well.

Two postcards of the Governor’s Mansion and the State Capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky
Frankfort, Two WaysTwo postcards · titles as printed

“Governor’s Mansion, Frankfort, Ky.” and “State Capitol, Frankfort, Kentucky.”

Vintage postcard of Chimney Rock on the Kentucky River
“‘Chimney Rock’ on the Kentucky River”Postcard · title as printed

A teetering stack of rock slabs. The card says 75 feet high.

Vintage postcard of Cumberland Falls, Kentucky
“Cumberland Falls, Kentucky”Postcard · title as printed

The falls, in full roar.

Pigeonhole B

Comic & Sweetheart Cards

Jokes, fish stories and courting couples, mailed by people long before us.

Comic linen postcard of a giant fish swallowing a fisherman, captioned the fish here only go for live bait, people
“The Fish Here Only Go for Live Bait — People!”Comic linen postcard

A fish swallowing a fisherman whole. Wish you were here.

A spread of antique postcards with courting couples, a cowboy and cow comic, a New York multi-view card and joke cards
The Sweetheart PileAntique postcards

Courting couples, a cowboy and his cow, “SMILE! Later today you won’t feel like it”, “Troubles are like babies…” and a New York multi-view, all in one heap.

Pigeonhole C

The Stamp Drawer

Envelope corners, cut and kept for the stamps.

A pile of cancelled foreign stamps on torn envelope corners, including stamps from Sweden, Korea and Costa Rica
Cancelled, from EverywhereUsed stamps on envelope corners

Sverige with Malmö postmarks, Korea, Costa Rica and more, all steamed, torn and saved. Return addresses trimmed off.

Pigeonhole D

Mail Art

Cards drawn and lettered by hand, sent to the Manor by Robert Bohn, whose originals hang in the Art Gallery.

Three hand-lettered mail-art postcards numbered out of 40 with a BOHN stamp, with the mailing address areas blanked out
Three Cards, Numbered of 40Mail art by Robert Bohn · “BOHN” stamp

Hand-lettered, postmarked March 2024, numbered out of 40. One asks for a carton of Slim Jims next time Shaggy stops at the gas station. One dreams of an arctic vortex, “a swirling cold doom”, followed by a banana. The third explains it all: the project “was inspired by you and your lost art in the mail.” The mailing address is painted out. Their painted fronts hang in the Art Gallery’s Robert Bohn Wing.