The Roberta Keniston Postcard Collection contains six boxes of postcards and other visual ephemera from the 20th century. The boxes are first organized by donor, and then very broadly divided by the type of architecture or artwork depicted on the postcards. These subdivisions are arranged by geographic region, media, and/or subject of the work shown on the postcard.
The majority of items in this collection are postcards dating from 1900-1918, which was during the “golden age” of postcard collecting, lasting from about 1895 to 1915. Other items, including photographs, souvenir photo books, greeting cards, and exhibition announcements in this collection were published throughout the 20th century. Correspondence to and from History of Art faculty and staff appear on some of the postcards.
Hayward Keniston (1883-1970) was Dean of the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Dr. Keniston received A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University; he went on to teach at Harvard and later at Cornell University. During World War I, he served as speaker for the Italian Ministry of Propaganda in Florence and as an assistant to the military attaché of the United States Embassy in Rome. Dr. Keniston joined the University of Michigan in 1940 as a professor; he returned after the Second World War as dean and professor.
Roberta Cannell Keniston (1908-1991), wife of Hayward, received a Master of Arts in Library Science from the University of Michigan in 1951. She was the director of the University of Michigan Undergraduate Library when it first opened in 1958 and later was Assistant Director of the Eastern Michigan University Library.
