Archive of the Month

October 2021

Travel Albums

A series of meticulously organised postcard albums from numerous journeys and cruises taken by John Richard Williams (1892-1961) and his sister, Anne Williams (1896-1984), of Colwyn Bay. The collection of albums tracks 26 journeys between the siblings across the breadth of Europe and the Cayman Islands. The postcards were mostly purchased as memorabilia, pristine and carefully slotted into the albums as souvenirs of their travels and tell the story of their many journeys across Europe during both peace and wartime.

Some of the cards in particular are distinctive not only for their vibrant colours, but for how closer inspection shows the waxy residue of having been hand-coloured over top of black and white prints. In particular, the ones stored at the end of the ‘Paris, Versailles & St. Cloud’ album (1924), the ‘Norwegian Fjords’ album (1927-1931), and the album of their Calgaric Cruise on the White Star Line to ‘The Baltic and Scandinavian States, the Cayman Islands and Madeira’ (1930-1931) have been carefully coloured to demonstrate the brightness of the scenery and show the care the two siblings put into documenting their travels. One postcard specifically, from the ‘France & Belgium’ album (1917-1923), while in black and white, has been annotated with an arrow and “my home”, immortalising their stay in very personal way.

                                                            This "Archive of the Month" was created by Alaw Dafis, Intern

Click on the links below to view all our showcased documents.