Object Lesson of a Lost Temple: A Postcard of the Fresno Buddhist Church, 1912
One of my favorite hobbies is collecting postcards. I began collecting in 2013, after I inherited a large collection of stamps and envelopes from my Dutch grandparents, a pair of avid collectors who amassed thousands of stamps ranging from the 1850s to the 1980s.
What initially struck me about my grandparents’ collection was its magnitude and variety; some stamps came from newly-formed republics in Africa and Southeast Asia after decolonization, while others originated from now-extinct states such as Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Each stamp was beautifully decorated with artwork that conveyed a specific message—often one with nationalistic overtones—that presented …