By Heather Lusk
Zion Park, Big Eagle Camp, Zionsville High School and a street car on Meridian (now Main) Street are a few of the many images depicted on about 100 historical postcards on display at the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Library.
The exhibit will culminate on May 9 when Harley Sheets, the owner of these and more than 20,000 other postcards, will provide free appraisals and a presentation about the history, value and collectability of postcards beginning at 2 p.m. at the library.
The Lebanon native and co-author of “Tiger Basketball: A Lebanon Passion” is sharing his collection amassed over 25 years so that others may find an interest in a hobby that he enjoys.
So how does someone start such a collection?
“It was totally by accident,” Sheets said.
The hobby began while he was trying to collect a photograph of every high school in Indiana. Sheets assumed yearbooks were the easiest route until a dealer in an antiques store pulled out boxes of postcards that included images of many high schools.
“I couldn’t get my money out of my pocket fast enough to pay that lady,” he said.
The bulk of his collection began with 4,000 postcards from a single seller. She had initially sold him some yearbooks, but at the time he’d noticed that she had many boxes of postcards. She suggested $200 for all of the boxes.
After joining and being president of the Indianapolis Postcard Club, Sheets wanted to help others become as passionate as he was.
“When I first got into postcards nobody wanted to educate me so they could get my good cards for nothing,” he said. “So I’d give these presentations at libraries to educate people on postcards.”
Sheets said that modern day postcards hold no value, but older postcards that were stored in family albums are the ones to preserve. A single postcard can be worth $100 to $200.
“Ninety percent of postcards aren’t worth more than the day they’re made,” he said, but the occasional high value card can make the hobby worthwhile.
As for his original goal, he estimates that he’s obtained postcard photos of roughly half of the high schools that have ever existed in Indiana and doubts that he will ever find all of them.
“But it started me out on a great hobby,” he said.
