Aleksander Lavrenčič1 
(Slovenia)
ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: 
THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF 
ARCHIVAL WORKERS - THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present findings of the research on changes in 
the habits of workers, who are employed in the archives. 
Methods/approach: We checked if the archivists still send picture postcards from con-
ferences and other meetings, and if they still archive the postcards. We tried to estab-
lish the numerical ratio between archived picture postcards and digital photos. We de-
signed a questionnaire that was sent to various addresses.
Results: The review of the responses completed by respondents showed that the num-
ber of sent postcards will decrease slightly in the future, while the sending of digital 
photos and digital posts on social networks will increase. 
Conclusions/findings: Changing habits should encourage archivists to change the prac-
tise of archiving collections and pay more attention to modern technology. At the same 
time, employees in the archives should still be the ones to keep the tradition of sending 
picture postcards, because they are bound by the obligation to protect cultural heritage, 
which includes raising people’s awareness of maintaining habits as the preservation of 
intangible culture heritage.
Key Words: picture postcards, archives, picture postcard’s collections, social networks, 
archival science and future
1 INTRODUCTION
This research was conducted to examine how digitization affects changes in the habits 
of archivists. We checked if participants of conferences and other meetings still send 
postcards. The questionnaires were sent to the addresses of the participants of the In-
ternational Archives Day, organized by the International Institute of Archival Sciences 
that took place at the end of October 2019 in Koper. At last year’s conference, we dis-
cussed the impact of social change on archives, including the impact of digitisation, 
while the conference in 2020 is focused on the topic »archives and digitization«. We are 
often unaware ourselves when we discuss the archives and digitization. It seems that 
we do not always recognize that we, archivists and other workers in the archives, are 
an important part of the archives, too. We could even say that we come second, right 
1 Aleksander Lavrenčič, archival councillor, Student, Alma Mater Europaea, Evropski center Maribor, Slov-
enska ulica 17, 2000 Maribor, librarian researcher, TV Archives, RTV Slovenija, Kolodvorska 2, 1550 Lju-
bljana, Slovenija, aleksander.lavrencic@rtvslo.si
 Aleksander Lavrenčič, historian and archivist, graduated in 1996 on Faculty of Arts, Ljubljana, and at 
Alma Mater Europaea – EC Maribor master’s program Archives and records management in 2018. Em-
ployed as archivist in The Archives and Museum of the University of Ljubljana (1997). Since 1999 librarian 
in The Archives of Television Slovenia, since 2003 until 2012 Head of TV archives, since 2012 librarian 
researcher, works at the project EUscreen which aims to promote the use of television content to explore 
Europe’s rich and diverse cultural history. Member of Slovene Association T. G. Masaryk for philosophical 
anthropology, ethics and for humanistic and social studies. Student of Archival Science Doctoral Program 
at Alma Mater Europaea – ECM.
17ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF ARCHIVAL WORKERS - THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS Aleksander Lavrenčič
after the archival materials. The research subject is seemingly straightforward, but it 
is, in fact, very important, as the research unveiled how changes in the age, that we call 
digital (and we are only at the beginning of this era) influences our habits. We began 
writing the article in one of the most critical periods of modern history - at the time of 
coronavirus pandemic.
The subject of our research seems very simple. We have explored a completely common 
practice that we all know well: we choose a postcard, pay for it, write an address on it, 
write down the text, sign it, ask our family members or friends to add their signatures or 
maybe a drawing, buy postage stamps, find a mailbox and, finally, throw the postcard 
in the mailbox slot. The postman then delivers the postcard to the addressee’s home, 
the addressee reads it, cheers it and puts it away on a shelf or in a drawer. Some people 
collect postcards, others collect stamps, and still others stick postcards on the pieces of 
kitchen furniture. But each postcard has its own story, and we can find many of these 
in the postcard’s collections. Different sciences treat postcards differently: art history, 
history, anthropology, literary sciences; the list goes on to military sciences, logistics 
and futuristic, library sciences, museology and archival studies, etc. (Millman, 2013). 
All these sciences have different views on postcards (Ferguson, 2006), postcards can be 
used even as a key sources in historical research on health care in the early 1900s (Hook, 
2005, 386). And, finally, the most interesting question to librarians, museologists and 
archivists alike, is the eternal question of where to place postcards: do they belong to 
archives or museums, or perhaps to libraries (Radovanovič, 2002; Semlič & Šauperl, 
2013). From the point of view of the archivists, we are not interested in what happened 
on a holiday, but sometimes we can be a little curious. We are interested in the story 
of how this postcard found its way into the archive. We can imagine one of millions of 
postcards preserved in public archives or in the archives of a private collector. Our re-
search was not concerned with the most famous collections and the oldest collections, 
nor with the collectors. We tackled the question of whether the habit of sending post-
cards in their current form will survive at all.
But before we describe the results of the survey, we must clarify that most archives do 
keep postcard’s collections (Semlič & Šauperl, 2013). These collections in Slovenian ar-
chives have already been partly digitized. The archives of Television Slovenia, public 
television service, keeps a special collection of postcards and photographs of different 
towns and places (Udovič & Omladič, 1988). Interestingly, there are many private post-
cards that were sent by co-workers from vacations or private and business trips and are 
preserved in the collection. These postcards were classified in the archive under the 
classification code of panoramas and they have been used as material for television 
news in the announcements of articles or as pictorial materials in broadcasts.
2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The idea of the subject for this research was born at the end of last year’s conference 
of International Institute of Archival Science in Koper (2019), when we were informed 
about the topics of lectures for next year (2020), and when the conference partici-
pants went to buy postcards in the shop. We therefore became interested in the fu-
ture destiny of buying and sending postcards, and what changes may be expected in 
the archives regarding the storage of interpersonal communication documents. In the 
survey, we asked archive workers for their opinion on how the habit of sending post-
cards will be maintained or changed in the digital age and how these changes will 
affect archival work.
18 ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF ARCHIVAL WORKERS -  THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS Aleksander Lavrenčič
We stated the following hypotheses:
1. In the future, people will send fewer postcards;
2. Classic postcards will be replaced by digital photos;
3. The archives are ready for the changes that lie ahead.
We designed the questions in a way that, with the help of the answers, we would be 
able to monitor changes in the people’s habits at different times and on different occa-
sions, including the occasions when the archivists would send postcards from archival 
conferences and other meetings.
We asked the archival workers the folowing questions:
Do you send picture postcards?
Did you send picture postcards in these time periods? (until 1994, from 1995 to 2000, 
from 2001 to 2005, from 2006 to 2010, from 2011 to 2015, from 2016 to 2020)
Do you send digital photos to relatives, acquaintances, friends and co-workers?
Do you post digital photos on social media?
What problems do you encounter when you buy postcards?
Do you have a collection of postcards in your institution (archive, museum, library)?
Do you archive materials from social media?
Do you archive amateur digital photos (such as those taken by yourself or your co-work-
ers - if they are not professional photographers)?
Do you think people will still send postcards in the future?
We ended the questionnaire with an optional question in which respondents were able 
to give an opinion on postcards (whether they like them, whether they are attracted to 
their visual image, if they currently collect them or did collect them in their childhood, 
how they enjoy receiving postcards in the mailbox, and whether they think that post-
cards are more genuinely personal and sincere than posts on social media).
We used “One Click Survey” online tool to create a survey questionnaire and process 
questions to different addresses. E-mail addresses were obtained from participants at 
various international conferences (International Archives Day in Trieste, Conference 
on Technical and Content Problems of Contemporary Archival Science in Radenci, Ar-
chival Practice in Tuzla, FIAT / IFTA International Television Archives Conferences and 
other international meetings), and from the official internet sites of the archives in 
the Slovenian public archives network. Questionnaires were also sent to students of 
archival science and documentation and doctoral students of archival sciences at the 
higher education institution Alma Mater Europaea - European Center Maribor. We have 
received 62 responses from addressees (approximately half of those addressed in Slo-
venia) by 17 July 2020.
2.1 Subject of the Research
There were three objects of the research: postcards, sending postcards, and their fate 
in the near and distant future. In the short presentation of the history of sending post-
cards, we will summarize only findings of Primož Premzl, and briefly present how the 
first customers sent postcards in the 19th century. At this point we also need to admit that 
we failed to find the quoted book describing the enthusiasm of German tourists for post-
cards at the end of the 19th century. According to the position of the book on the library 
shelves, we were convinced that it was the work of the English writer Jerome Klapka 
Jerome, but we could not find these excerpts in any of the studied works. We urge read-
19ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF ARCHIVAL WORKERS - THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS Aleksander Lavrenčič
ers to tolerate the weakness of our photographic memory, at least under conditions that 
prevailed in the Slovenian libraries during the first wave of coronavirus epidemic.2
The beginnings of the increasing use of postcards in the last quarter of the 19th century 
were associated with progress in many other fields and industries. In his book “Pošta na 
slovenskih tleh”, Primož Premzl drew attention to the improvement of the situation for 
postal services, advances in printing technology, and the development of photography 
and tourism (Premzl, 1997, 381).
Premzl (1997, 381) mentioned Prussian printed postcards from 1869 as the first post-
cards, while Sandra Ferguson mentioned these postcards as Austrian (Ferguson, 2006, 
168). On the online encyclopaedia (https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razglednica) we 
found that the oldest postcard originated in England with the motif of the post office. 
Immediately after that Wikipedia mentions a French postcard with a motif of weapons 
from the Franco-Prussian War. The authors of this record should certainly be reminded 
of the error in the signed photographs, as the French postcard (the motif of the weapon 
and the inscription) is more than obviously shown as English. The other mistake from 
Wikipedia site is that Slovenian postcard from the series of plebiscite postcards is also 
incorrectly listed as a postcard from the 19th century.3
As a precursor to Slovene postcards, Premzl appointed to (1997, 382) Rogaška Slatina 
card from 1889. The Rogaška Slatina postcard from 1892 is considered to be the first 
known postcard modelled on the German ones. Most of the oldest preserved Slovene 
postcards were sent from various health resorts (Premzl, 1997, 382). Premzl pointed out 
that the decline in the popularity of sending and collecting postcards has already been 
influenced by technology. This first happened with the development and accessibility 
of telephone connections after the First World War (Premzl, 1997, 385). He also point-
ed out that the main credit goes to the collectors for preserving many postcards that 
are now part of archival or museum collections (Premzl, 1997, 396): “Old postcards are 
now part of an invaluable cultural heritage. An important historical source for research 
in various fields (local, ethnological, national, political, etc.) are the pictorial and also 
the written part (text)” (Premzl, 1997, 397). During World war I. were postcards painted 
by major artists. Motifs and themes were developed to impressive images (Danielson, 
2013; Jacob & Van Ells, 2013).
2.2 Research Result 
The analysis of the received answers pointed that eight percent of the respondents 
from the Republic of Slovenia send postcards regularly, 44 percent send postcards from 
vacations and trips, five percent from business trips and participation in conferences 
abroad. Just over a third (34 percent) of respondents “don’t send postcards at all” (see 
Chart 1). We also received six responses with additional explanations (ten percent): “I 
send something small, once a year from vacation”, “from vacation, trips, business trip or 
when attending a conference”, “only occasionally”, “increasingly rarely”, “Occasionally”, 
and “sometimes, not always”.
2 All readers are kindly asked to tell us which humourist perfectly described the 19th century postcard ex-
plosion. Memory loss reminds us of the importance of archives as guardians of memory – human memo-
ry is fleeting but the archival resources are permanent.
3 The editors of the website should, as soon as possible, correct the misspelled »French-Russian war« in 
the year 1870 into »French-Prussian war«.
20 ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF ARCHIVAL WORKERS -  THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS Aleksander Lavrenčič
Graph 1: Do you send postcards?
Respondents used to send postcards more frequently in the past (see Graph 2). To the 
question about sending postcards in different time periods (until 1995, then in the five 
years 1996-2000, 2001-2005, 2006-2010, 2011-2015 and 2016-2020), we received an-
swers confirming that the habit of sending postcards was slowly disappearing. Until 
1995, nine percent of respondents didn’t send postcards, but these answers must also 
take into account those who were still too young during this period, so that the answers 
from the following years give us a better picture of the decline of postcards:
• by 1995, 91% of respondents sent postcards,
• between 1996 and 2000, 96% of respondents sent postcards,
• between 2001 and 2005, 89% of respondents sent postcards,
• between 2006-2010, 86% of respondents sent postcards,
• between 2011-2015, 70% of respondents sent postcards,
• Between 2016 and 2020, 62% of respondents sent postcards.
Graph 2: Did you send postcards in these time periods?
Looking at the graph, we can immediately notice that, in a quarter of the century, the 
share of those who do not send postcards has risen from four to 38 percent, and the 
declining trend has risen the most in the last decade. This was checked with the next 
question to see if we could expect an explicit decline in the number of postcards sent by 
holidaymakers in the future.
21ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF ARCHIVAL WORKERS - THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS Aleksander Lavrenčič
Almost half of the respondents “used to send picture postcards”, but today they “no 
longer send postcards” (48 percent). Thirteen percent of respondents said that they 
would send postcards “regularly”, and a good quarter (26 percent) said that they would 
keep sending them for “as long as mail exists”. No one circled the answer that they had 
“never sent” postcards.
Among the answers we received some additional explanations: “I only send them for 
holidays”, “maybe sometimes more often, but mostly from the (main) holiday once a 
year”, “I send them less and less”, “I do when I see a nice postcard, and I will continue 
sending them”,” I do send them once a year “,” occasionally “,” still occasionally “,” I used 
to send them, not any more today”.
Therefore, we asked the postcard senders what problems they normally encountered 
when deciding to buy and send postcards (see Graph 3). The first problem turned out 
to be “finding a shop, kiosk or newsagent with postcards”, which was stated by exact-
ly one tenth or ten percent of the respondents. The biggest problem mentioned by as 
many as half (50 percent) is that the “postcard stores don’t sell postage stamps”. Nearly 
a quarter of respondents (23 percent) then found it difficult to trace down a post office 
where they would sell stamps, and eight percent of them have trouble waiting in long 
lines at the post office. There are also growing problems with finding mailboxes, which 
was mentioned by 15 percent of the respondents. At the very end, another problem was 
set by the very lack of writing pencil when purchasing postcards. Sixteen percent of re-
spondents, who send postcards, did not list any problems; same goes for the 29 percent 
of people, who do not send postcards. We also received these two additional answers: 
“I want to write but sometimes, when it’s least necessary, the pencil doesn’t work”, and 
“I have a hard time finding the motivation to write.”
Graph 3: I often encounter these problems, when I want to buy postcards:
But these little inconveniences are unlikely to displace the long-standing habit of writ-
ing postcards. The old habit is more threatened by the change of general lifestyle. These 
changes are caused by modern technology, in that digitalisation of our everyday hab-
its allows, among other benefits, for an easy and fast sending of messages and photos 
without the above-mentioned hassles. Therefore, when asked whether they send digi-
tal photos to relatives, acquaintances, friends or co-workers, 84 percent of respondents 
answered in the affirmative (see Chart 4). However, there are fewer people who post 
photos on social media. So far, this habit still has a ratio of 35 percent in favour of those 
who post photos, to 65 percent of those who do not post photos on social media. Among 
those, who post photos on social media, Facebook (30 percent) and Instagram (20 per-
cent) have a convincing lead, followed by links on LinkedIn (8 percent), Pinterest, C and 
Strava (each network one percent).
22 ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF ARCHIVAL WORKERS -  THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS Aleksander Lavrenčič
Graph 4: Do you send digital photos?
We put the question of whether the institutions (archives, libraries, museums etc.) ar-
chive materials from social media and amateur digital photos, and whether the men-
tioned institutions keep postcards in special collections. Most respondents (69 percent) 
confirmed that they keep postcards in a special collection, 13 percent said “no”, six 
percent of respondents were “unaware of this”, and five percent of respondents were 
“not employed in an archive, library or museum”. There were some other answers too: 
“By chance one was preserved”, “I keep it in my own archive”, “we keep postcards in a 
photo collection”, and “we keep a collection of photos and postcards”. These responses 
have convinced us that it was perfectly correct to ask the participants in the survey if 
their institutions do keep amateur photographs in their collections; that is, those photo-
graphs taken by themselves or their co-workers (in cases where the latter are not pro-
fessional photographers). Most respondents (58 percent) confirmed that they did keep 
such photos, some respondents skipped the question, and some stated that they were 
“not aware of it because they were already retired”, and one participant explained that 
they “archived them if potentially suitable for a project” (see Graph 5). We can especially 
thank this last answer in that it confirms that a photograph of a good quality that may be 
used for viewing at an exhibition, display in an anthology or elsewhere, also meets the 
criteria for permanent archiving.
Graph 5: Do you archive amateur digital photos?
The current situation in archiving materials from social media is worse. Slovenian ar-
chives are still late in determining the criteria of archiving social media materials, and 
only fifteen percent of the participants in the survey confirmed that they do archive ma-
terials from social media in their institutions (see Chart 6).
23ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF ARCHIVAL WORKERS - THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS Aleksander Lavrenčič
Graph 6: Do you archive social media records?
The participants were asked about their opinion on whether the habit of sending post-
cards would be kept in the future or not. Half of the respondents answered that “it would 
be”, while ten percent of the people answered that they “would not be sending post-
cards in the future”. In addition, 44 percent of respondents believed that, in the future, 
people would only send “digital postcards”, and 42 percent believed that people would 
“post photos on social media” (see Chart 7). We received some additional responses, 
with regard to which we are especially grateful for the reminder that the future is a 
rather open concept. We should probably divide the issue into slots of ten, twenty, fifty 
or a hundred years into the future. Even though one of the respondents answered that 
people would send less and less postcards, we also received this answer: “For as long 
as they can be bought, I will keep on sending them” and “maybe in the future sending 
classic postcards will become relevant again”. In addition, we also received a response 
that was critical of postal services: “I sincerely hope so. But I’m afraid not, because post-
al services are becoming less and less postcards friendly; some of my postcards never 
reached the addressees. “
Graph 7: Do you think that the postcards will be sent in the future?
At the end of the survey, we added an optional question asking the respondents for an 
optional opinion on postcards (do you like them, are you attracted to their visual image, 
do you collect them or did you collect them as a child, how do you enjoy postcards in your 
mailbox, or do you think they are more genuinely personal and honest than posts on so-
cial media). Even though the question was optional, we received as many as 38 answers. 
24 ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF ARCHIVAL WORKERS -  THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS Aleksander Lavrenčič
Some were shorter than the others. Since postcards are an important part of archival 
and museum collections (archives or museum items), and will, of course, remain so for 
as long as there are archives, museums and libraries, regardless of whether the people 
will still be sending them or not, we publish the answers in full and in original record:
• Postcards show a more genuine and honest attitude towards the recipient than 
sending large amounts of digital footage or posting on social media when we share 
our intimacy with people we barely know;
• Plenty of success;
• I have always liked postcards, but unfortunately there are not many good motives; 
they are too kitschy;
• Postcards are “ql”, but the senders must make an effort and write something original 
on them and not just a nice greeting from Banja Luka, we have a nice time;
• I like interesting, beautiful, artistic postcards with imaginative motifs, I look for-
ward to receiving postcards, they definitely seem more personal to me. The sender 
must think harder when sending postcards to special friends;
• I like them. Both, the image that is shown, as well as the record and stamp (which hasn’t 
always been on a postcard in last years). I used to collect them as a child. Now I am col-
lecting them again, because others have finally started sending me postcards as well;
• I like postcards, their purpose is to send them and make the recipient happy. I hope this 
tradition won’t be completely lost in the digital age. I always buy at least 3 postcards 
for home and for my own archives. I encourage the young ones to send postcards;
• I really like postcards and this way of receiving greetings from elsewhere directly 
to my mailbox and not just through social media. I am a big fan of postcards and I’ve 
kept them for many years. Nice memory. I always send a postcard to my home ad-
dress as a souvenir;
• They are genuine and sincerer, dedicated to the person, family and show respect 
to someone;
• From the 4th class of elementary school to a few years after employment, I sent a huge 
number of letters and postcards, at one point I had more than 50 correspondents 
from all over the world. The feeling of getting a letter from somewhere far away, 
admiring a handwritten address, a stamp, a postmark and opening an envelope in 
anticipation of the news was invaluable to me. It was similar with postcards - to find 
out from the title page from which country the postcard is from, to admire the (un)
originality of the photo, to design and guess who remembered you somewhere far 
away, on holiday ... I didn’t really gather postcards in a special collection, but I kept 
them, and I still keep many of them today. I attached them to the door of my room 
and some, the growingly yellowed ones are still there; the most valuable are those 
sent to me by a dear friend who died in a car accident ten years ago. When I look at 
these postcards at the door, I still have the illusion that he is still here, just lying there 
somewhere on the shores of Loch Morlich having a nice time;
• They are more genuinely personal than sending photos over the phone or posting 
on a social media, mainly because it also takes a little more effort to send classic 
postcards and send them to those you really want to greet; A special feeling when 
receiving a postcard from abroad;
• Of course, it’s great to get a classic postcard, but I don’t think it’s more “personal” if 
we send a digital photo or post it on social media, it’s a photo we took ourselves. So, 
it’s more personal. However, the texts on the classic postcards usually only followed 
the generally accepted pattern. So, anyway, more personal is the handwriting;
25ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF ARCHIVAL WORKERS - THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS Aleksander Lavrenčič
• Well, I look forward to receiving them, but the same is valid for phone calls, e-mails, 
... other forms of news from loved ones, friends, ...
• I still keep the postcards I’ve got;
• Postcards are a wonderful thing, especially if they are really beautiful and with them 
you express attention to everyone you like to remember;
• Yes;
• I always enjoy postcards, they are more authentic than the social media;
• They are really more authentic, I’m looking forward to them, maybe we’ll start send-
ing them again ... The holiday season is approaching ...
• Like most people, I really like to receive a postcard. That is why I try to send postcards 
as well;
• I look forward to postcards, they are more authentic and personal;
• All the best about postcards. It is a pity that they were replaced mainly by posts on 
social media;
• Postcards are, of course, more personal and more durable. I’ve always cheered them 
on in my mailbox, so I used to send them from vacation until a few years ago, but 
now I’m lazy in that regard. However, this poll encouraged me a bit to send a post-
card, because it simply has a certain charm. Anyone who gets a physical postcard in 
this digital age especially appreciates it in my opinion. Even greeting cards on holi-
days have unfortunately become a rare treasure;
• I look forward to them, but at the same time I’m too lazy to send them;
• I have saved all the postcards I have received so far;
• I like them, I don’t collect them, I enjoy them in my mailbox, they are more authentic 
(you must put in a little more effort than just a few clicks);
• I especially like old postcards, and the newer ones are those that attract with a motif 
or are well designed. I hope that modern forms of communication will not complete-
ly displace them, but they probably do not have much chance of survival. Personally, 
I still enjoy postcards in my mailbox and therefore send them myself, especially from 
trips around the world;
• I have always liked postcards and I would be sorry if they fall into oblivion ... I think 
they are much more authentic and personal, as I usually choose the one that best 
suits the recipient! In addition, they are written by hand. They still make me happy, 
but they practically don’t arrive in mail anymore;
• I used to send postcards from various trips and have collected them. They are a picto-
rial source of times past;
• I still enjoy postcards, this is a genuine personal reaction to the event, I collected 
them as a child;
• They are a fond memory of the holidays;
• Postcards are more authentic and personal, I collect them and always look forward 
to them when I get them in my mailbox;
• I buy a postcard wherever I am. Of all the mountaint peaks I have conquered, I have 
them. And that with a mountain stamp. Postcards are and always will be something 
special, something that touches you when you find it in your mailbox;
• I think the addressees tend to be less appreciative and consequently there are fewer 
senders;
26 ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF ARCHIVAL WORKERS -  THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS Aleksander Lavrenčič
• I send postcards from holidays and trips. Often (if I like the motif), I also buy one 
for my own collection. I started doing this as a child. Postcards, which come to my 
mailbox less and less often, I sincerely rejoice, as they are more personal, and they 
definitely require more than mms from the sender.
• I collect postcards of places I visit (as a souvenir).
• As an employee at the archives, I would like it if the postcards contained the date of 
the photo and the name of the place;
• Postcards are beautiful ... and they have their own charm. However, we send less 
and less of them because digital media is more at hand;
• Indifferent, it is essential for me to get ideas from them for my trips, travels, which I 
can also get from social media;
• Analogue ones are different from digital postcards. It takes more effort to send them 
than digital pictures. But I’m looking forward to both, analogue as well as digital, as 
they have the same purpose.
We didn’t receive enough answers from abroad - only seven valid ones - which means 
that we didn’t have enough answers to produce a reliably detailed analysis. However, we 
can compare the results of the survey with those obtained in the survey in Slovenia. One 
third of the participants in the survey send postcards from holidays and trips. Even abroad, 
we can see a declining trend in the habit of sending postcards in the 21st century. Before 
2000, postcards were sent by another 83 percent of survey participants, between 2001 
and 2005 by 67 percent, and later this share dropped to 40 percent. 60 percent of partic-
ipants used to send postcards, but they do not send them anymore. 40 percent of partic-
ipants say they will continue to send the postcards in the future, too. They also face the 
biggest inconveniences when they try to buy post stamps. One-third of respondents said 
they couldn’t get stamps at the place where they bought postcards, and as many as two-
thirds (67 percent) pointed out the problem of finding post offices where they sell stamps. 
20 percent of respondents don’t send postcards, and 20 percent say they have no problem 
buying and sending postcards. Among the participants employed in the archives and re-
lated institutions, three-quarters answered that they keep postcards in a special collec-
tion. One of them answered that they keep postcards “in the archives”, but “not in a special 
collection”. 83 percent of respondents send digital photos to relatives, acquaintances and 
co-workers, and the same number of them post photos on social media, mostly on Face-
book (80 percent), followed by Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter (20 percent each). 60 per-
cent of participants confirmed that they archive materials from social media, and they all 
confirmed that they archive digital records made by themselves or their colleagues in the 
archive. Half of them are convinced that people will still send postcards by regular mail 
in the future, but seventeen percent believe that this habit will disappear. About a third 
of respondents believe that classic postcards will replace digital postcards, and one third 
that people will post digital photos on social media. Among the additional answers at the 
end of the survey, we received the following:
• I’m looking forward to postcards;
• I was always happy when I received a postcard. Postcards are more authentic and 
more personal than posts on social media;
• I still like to send and receive postcards, especially from holidays, vacations and busi-
ness trips.
27ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF ARCHIVAL WORKERS - THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS Aleksander Lavrenčič
We also received a warning that it wasn’t possible to enter the name of the country in 
the survey. Apparently, there was a technical problem as the question was originally 
there; the results, however, showed us that it was somehow dropped by mistake.
3 CONCLUSION
A postcard is a small object, which can be an important source in research. It is part of 
cultural heritage and postcards as such are kept in archives, museums, libraries and oth-
er institutions. However, they will change form in the future. Crucial questions in our 
research about these changes are:
• Will people send postcards in the future?
• Will digital photos replace classic postcards?
• Are archives ready for the changes that lie ahead?
The results of the survey confirmed our claim that people would send “fewer postcards 
in the future”. In addition, most respondents believe that digital photos will replace 
classic postcards. The changes will have a noticeable impact on the work in the archives: 
new collections will be created. We are pleased that our research has confirmed that 
the employees in the archives are prepared for the coming changes in the future. This 
means that the archives will be able to preserve the material cultural heritage for future 
generations. We can only be concerned about (too) late responses when archiving ma-
terials from social media. However, the preservation of the intangible cultural heritage 
should also be considered. This intangible heritage includes individual habits, along 
with the habit of sending postcards. Therefore, we urge you to preserve this beautiful 
habit and pass it on to future generations.4
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4 Finally, I would like to add a brief note. I am curious to see how many postcards I will receive from you in 
the mailbox. So, do take some time and good will and send a picture postcard to: Aleksander Lavrenčič, 
Maistrova 1 1270 Litija, Slovenija, Thank you!
28 ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF ARCHIVAL WORKERS -  THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS Aleksander Lavrenčič
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29ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS IN DIGITAL AGE: THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON THE HABITS OF ARCHIVAL WORKERS - THE CASE OF PICTURE POSTCARDS Aleksander Lavrenčič