In recent years, postcards have enjoyed increasing use as historical evidence in fields including art history, anthropology, and geography. Often difficult to date and lacking provenance, the postcard as historical document presents a number of methodological challenges. Focusing on the case of Amsterdam circa 1900 – during the heyday of popular postcard collecting – the seminar will suggest possible approaches for making sense of these evocative examples of visual culture.

Nancy Stieber teaches architectural history at the University of Massashusetts, Boston, where she is also chair of the Art Department. She is currently writing a book entitled The Metaphorical City: On the visual representation of Amsterdam around 1900. Her previous book, Housing Design and Society in Amsterdam: Reconfiguring Urban Order and Identity, 1900-20 was co-recipient of the Spiro Kostof Award in 1999. She is editor of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. Professor Stieber has received numerous grants and fellowships, including a Getty postdoctoral fellowship and a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.