Shields Library is closed through January 1. Requests for books, digitization services, and interlibrary loan will be fulfilled after the new year.
Greetings from Davis: Views from Local Postcards
Shields Library (Lobby - Archives and Special Collections)
October 1, 2024 - March 21, 2025
Before smartphones and social media, postcards offered a way to send pictures and short messages that recorded important parts of daily life. This exhibit presents a selection of local postcards which offer a visual history of campus and the City of Davis.
Peruse the display cases and you’ll discover street scenes, civic institutions, landmarks, hotels, restaurants, and campus buildings. The images capture aspects of the city and the campus that have changed or stayed the same over time. As you view the images, note how many places you can identify. How many of these buildings are still standing?
The postcards, which were produced during the decades of 1910-2010, are drawn from the following collections:
- D-473 John Lofland Papers
- O-001 Postcard Collection
- AR-181 Postcards of UC Davis
You can view digitized versions of these regional postcards, and others, below and at our Digital Collections site.
Then and Now
The photographs below show how examples of downtown Davis has grown and changed in the past century. All of the historical images are drawn from the Regional Postcard Collection, which features postcards of local scenes, attractions, and important historical events in Yolo and Solano Counties.
Community Church, corner of 4th and C Street
Mamma (formerly City Hall), 226 F Street
Newman Center (formerly St. James Catholic Church), 413 5th Street
2nd Street and F Street
Brinley Building, northeast corner of 2nd and E Street
Vine Inn (formerly Yolano Lodge), 221 D Street
Best Western (formerly University Lodge), 123 B Street
Souvenir Postcard
Visitors are welcome to take home a free souvenir postcard that was created for the exhibit!
