Trading Cards

Fr. Rob Moriarty has gotten me started on a new hobby. Last week he brought to the Archives some color postcards of the Cathedral which he had found on E-bay (cheaply, I hope-he declined my offer of remuneration). I accepted the donation gratefully, for I knew we already had a small collection of cards, and I hoped they would not be duplicates. Most turned out not to be, so his generosity has expanded our collection quite a bit.

Some of the cards we already had are of quite recent vintage, though none depict the interior following the renovation under Bishop Weigand. Some of them indicate they were done in Kodachrome, and that film, sadly now no longer being produced, does justice to the rich hues of the interior.

Others, like the ones reproduced here, were apparently colorized versions of black and white originals. From the automobiles depicted in the exterior view, I would guess they were made around 1940, and they were both made at the same time, given their consecutive serial numbers. I know nothing about the colorizing process, which has sometimes also been used on black and white movies, and I confess to ambiguous feelings about it. On the one hand, the interior view almost looks like it was colored from memory rather than from life, the colors are so inaccurately rendered. The exterior view appeals to me much more, although the colors are still not precisely accurate. But the pastel hues turn the building almost into a fairy-tale cathedral, and I find that fantasy world attractive.

So, as archivist of the diocese, I'm becoming a postcard collector. I don't do E-bay myself, but if any of my faithful readers do, and you can find cards we don't have, I'll be glad to trade any of our duplicates. Both the cards depicted here are duplicates.  If you find cards of any of our other Catholic buildings, the same offer holds-I know there are cards of Holy Cross Hospital and St. Ann's Orphanage at least.

This could be even more fun than trading Mickey Mantle for Yogi Berra!