12th Annual Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival

This ad card promotes the annual Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival, celebrating the illustrated world that takes place on the first Saturday in November every year. In 2019, it will be held at the Clark County Library on November 2, 2019 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m, featuring publishers, vendors, film screenings, panels and workshops, special comic and animation guests, live music and cosplay.

Peking University Library, Beijing, China

Outgoing postcard US-3368775 to Ohio shows the Peking University Library at the Peking University's main campus in Beijing, China. Its predecessor, the Imperial University library, was founded in 1902. Peking University, along its library, moved from downtown to the former Yenching University campus during the university re-grouping in 1952. The main building opened in 1975 at the center of the campus. A new building, shown on the postcard, was added in 1998. It holds 5.3 million books, among of which are 1.5 million ancient books and 170,000 rare books and special collections.

Peking University, a major research university and the first modern national university in China that was founded as the "Imperial University of Peking" in 1898, celebrates its 117th anniversary and the Homecoming Day on May 4th, 2015.

Navy Pier, Chicago

Postcard US-2558458 from Illinois shows the Navy Pier, a 3,300-foot 1,010-meter long pier on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan, with the skyline of the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area in the background. Built in 1916 primarily as a cargo facility for lake freighters and passenger excursion steamers, the pier today is Chicago's number one tourist attraction that hosts the Chicago Children's Museum and an IMAX theater. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on September 13, 1979.

In the news today, winning over the competitions from Columbia University in New York City, the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Chicago will host the Obama Library, Museum and Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side, located in either Washington Park or Jackson Park.

Compared to the downtown area shown on the postcard, the South Side of Chicago has great disparity in income and other demographic measures, and a reputation for being poor or crime-infested, The Obama Library will not only honor the legacy of the first African American president in the U.S. who had worked at University of Chicago's Hyde Park campus, but also give an enormous economic boost for the South Side.

Writer's Workshop

Postcard US-3223060 to Germany was an advertising card for a Writer's Workshop presented by Maxwell Alexander Drake, an award-winning Sci-Fi/Fantasy author, at the Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas on February 21, 2015 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Maxwell is teaching free writing classes hosted by the Clark County Library District. His next classes "Character Creation – Who is that masked man anyway?" are scheduled at Centennial Hills Library on Sunday March 1, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. and Monday March 2, 2015 at 8:00 p.m.

Carnegie Public Library in San Bernardino

Postcard US-2698983 to Wisconsin, US shows Carnegie Public Library in San Bernardino, California, with the Courthouse in the background. Efforts to establish a public library had continued intermittently since San Bernardino was incorporated in 1869. Carnegie offered a $20,000 grant in 1902.  An architectural competition was held where plans submitted by architects were displayed; and citizens voted for their favorite plans. Architects Burnham and Bliesner won the competition with a classical Revival style building plan.

The library was opened on August 10, 1904. In 1920, the Carnegie Corporation provided an additional $7,600 grant with the city issuing a $10,000 bond as the matching fund. The library was closed in 1957 as the building was declared unsafe; it was demolished next year. A new library was completed in 1960.

The postcard, a reproduction of a vintage postcard c. 1915, was purchased at Zazzle.

Little Free Library

Postcard US-2545772 from Virginia, USA shows a Little Free Library that the sender set up in front of her house. A Little Free Library is a “take a book, return a book” gathering place where neighbors share their favorite literature and stories. In its most basic form, a Little Free Library is a box full of books where anyone may stop by and pick up a book (or two) and bring back another book to share.

It started in 2009 when Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, built a model of a one room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother, a former school teacher who loved reading. He filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard. It now grows into a network of more than 10,000 registered Little Free Libraries in the world.

The concept of Little Free Library is unique as real people are sharing their favorite books in their community with a carefully curated collection, and the Library itself is a piece of neighborhood art.

You can find a Little Free Library near you on a map, and learn how Little Free Libraries work in 2 minuets.

William J. Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

Traveling Postcard US-2452513 to Ukraine shows the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park in Little Rock, Arkansas, which  includes the Clinton Presidential Library, the offices of the Clinton Foundation, and the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.

It is located on a 69,000-square-meter or 17-acre land by the Arkansas River and Interstate 30. The main building extends towards the Arkansas River, exemplifying Clinton's campaign promise of "building a bridge to the 21st century." The Clinton Presidential Center was dedicated nine years ago on November 18, 2004. The 1899 Rock Island Railroad Bridge across the Arkansas River, shown on the left of the postcard, was originally leading to Choctaw Station. It has been converted into a pedestrian bridge connecting to North Little Rock and renamed as the Clinton Park Bridge. The dedication ceremony was held on September 30, 2011, and the bridge was opened to the public on October 2, 2011.

The photo on the postcard was taken on April 10, 2006 When I was driving cross-country from West Palm Beach to Las Vegas. The postcard, mailed along with more than a dozen other cards including some private swaps, has traveled more than 30 days. All those cards mailed on that day appear lost in the mail, since none of the cards was received. I am in the process of  re-sending the replacement. So far, one replacement card was received. Unfortunately, some of those postcards are unique and do not have duplicates.

Vegas Valley Book Festival

The Vegas Valley Book Festival just concluded a three-day celebration of literature and imagination from October 30 to November 2, 2013. Founded by Nevada Humanities in 2002, it has featured authors from around the globe participating in a full schedule of panel discussions, book signings, readings, workshops, poetry, children's literature, and special events.

Postcard US-1920289 to the Netherlands shows Dennis Lehane as the closing keynote speaker of the 2010 festival at the Clark County Library on November 7, 2010. Dennis has written several novels, including A Drink Before the War, Mystic River, "Gone, Baby, Gone", and the latest Moonlight Mile. My favorite quote of Dennis came from his book Shutter Island: “Which would be worse, to live as a monster or to die as a good man?”