Lumbering towns are not
often thought of as tourist
destinations, and Arnprior,
Ontario, Canada, is no
exception. A town built
around the lumber industry,
Arnprior was a hard-working,
hard-drinking village settled
mostly by Scottish and Irish
immigrants seeking their

fortunes. All had family and
friends to correspond with
and post cards provided an
inexpensive medium for this
purpose. The post cards in
this exhibit show the town as
it would have been seen by
residents and visitors alike,
and provide us with a glimpse
of everyday life, and of

those buildings which would
have been considered
important to the people
working, living, worshipping,
learning and playing there.
It is interesting to note
that the majority of the
cards in the collection had
been sent to recipients
within an 80 kilometer radius

of Arnprior, and include talk
of future visits and safe
arrivals.
   Open cards, or post cards
as we call them now, did not
come into common use in
Canada until the last decade
of the 19th century. Some
images were based on hand-
drawn illustrations and