Edwardian Halifax: Postcard Glimpses of an Era 1900-1920

Margaret Conrad is a professor of history at Acadia University. She is
the author of Intimate Relations: Family and Community in Planter Nova
Scotia, 1759–1800, and Making Adjustments: Change and Continuity in
Planter Nova Scotia, 1759–1800 and the co

The 250th anniversary of the founding of Halifax in 1749 has prompted
the publication of several welcome books, including this colorful
collection of early 20th-century postcards. As compiler Dan Soucoup
notes in his helpful introduction, the postcard was a popular new medium
of communication in the Edwardian era, and Halifax, basking in the
afterglow of Victorian gentility and the rise of the tourist industry,
inspired more than a thousand postcard images in the first decade of the
20th century alone.

Soucoup groups about 130 images from his extensive collection
thematically, with chapters devoted to harbor approaches, streetscapes,
public buildings, military scenes, the Halifax Explosion, and such
tourist meccas as the Citadel, the Public Gardens, Point Pleasant Park,
and the Northwest Arm. The final chapter includes a selection of the
greeting postcards that were popular in this period. Beautifully
produced, the book also includes a great deal of information about
Halifax. The postcards—together with excellent captions, an
introduction, and a conclusion—reveal the games Haligonians played,
the organizations they belong to, the institutions they valued, and the
vistas that inspired awe. A charming reminder of Halifax in an earlier
era, this lovely little book is also a timely testimony to an
often-forgotten chapter in the 20th century communications revolution.