What about sandwiching them between sheets of glass or plexiglass?

I'm thinking you might need to have a custom mat cut and use some number of them in one frame. For example use 9 in a 3x3 arrangement (or 16 in a 4x4) in one frame and then do the same in another. I also have a good many old postcards, most from the 50's. Great idea for a fun project.

I wonder if, before you go too far, you could lay them out in an arrangement that you Iike? By theme? Color? "Feel"? Style? (I have to say, i love the ship at the bottom!) Do you have an idea where in your home you'd like to display them? Thinking that oceanic/tropical cards look good in a half-bath (a regular bath might be too humid). Also, and I don't know too much about this, but do you need special glass to prevent fading? Some of them look hand-colored.

Once you know how many you'd like to put together, and where they will go, you can make your statement piece. Perhaps one large piece, surrounded by some frames with one or two cards in them, or really special, graphic ones in a large mat and frame.

I love that you have those! How I wish I had something special like this from a family member.

For something this important I would recommend spending the money to have them professionally matted and framed. Perhaps several could be framed together in sets.

I just did this at Aaron Brothers to frame with a large, oddly sized lithograph as a retirement present for my husband. Although I purchased a ready made frame to save on costs, they did an amazing job with helping me choose the right matting placement to make the off-the-shelf frame look custom made, matting color selection, sizing, etc.

They even set an engraved plaque that I had made onto the matting to make it look truly custom. I couldn't have done it this well on my own.

Oh, I love those!

I can think of two options:

To highlight a few, and be able to focus on the details, choose a few favorites, and have them float mounted, framed and part of a gallery wall.

The other option I can see is treat them like a collage, arrange them slightly overlapping, offset from one another, mount on backing board and frame, with or without a mat.

With one set of pics(no, they were not vintage photographs, just photographs I liked a lot) I bought 5 Ikea frames, same color but different design and sizes. And I made a collage of framed photos on the wall. Some pics got a mat, some didn't.

If it were pictures very important to me personally, I'd probably keep the idea the same, but go for better frames..

With another set..actually they were just artistic postcards I loved..I did something very simple. I don't remember where I saw this idea, but it appealed to me. I bought a tray..I think a tole one? I put it vertically, leaned it against a wall, like a backdrop for these cards..and I put the cards there randomly, and held them in their places with magnets.

The minus was that the tray I managed to find, that would be a nice backdrop etc, was pretty small. So I couldn't fit all my favorites. I picked just three or four, and I decided they would be just one theme.."girls and women".

Another idea I never used but just read about..wouldn't do it probably with important family photos or cards, but if something is less meaningful but still you like it a lot, it sounds pretty cool. The guy took a wooden shelf or something similar, put pictures all over it, in random pleasing manner, and went over them with Mod Podge, couple layers. Mod Podge is white; but gets clear when it dries.

Then he installed a shelf flush against the wall, so it faces him.

Or you can even do what Rita Konig did at some point in her famous living room..

Ooh I love those! Imho, anything other than putting it behind glass will look junky. On the other hand expensive frames or even just glass can elevate anything. I just dropped off something with the framer… A mass print that I think cost less than $100 if I recall. I'm spending almost $600 to frame it.

I think these would look terrific sandwiched between glass with those little clips. They are available in lots of different places. Then I would use as many as I could in a big grid. I think that would look smashing.

Thanks for all of the great ideas. I'm going to think about where I might want to hang them and go from there.

It is interesting that the colors are still so vivid. These (and there are more) have been stored in cigar boxes at my grand parents' house, then my parents' and now ours. They are also great for the simple fact that they have their addresses on them. I had to go to the Dallas area last week, and was able to find my great grandparents' house in a town north of there because I had the address from postcards and letters.

Two things to keep in mind are fading and the postcards becoming adhered to the glass if you don't have spacers or a mat. If you don't mind them being ruined, you can frame them any way you want. Otherwise, have them done professionally. They really are something to treasure! Good luck with your project. :-)

I don't have any good ideas for framing these post cards. However, while thinking about the problem, it occured to me that one of the things you lose when you frame them is the ability to flip them over and read them. I can only imagine what great conversations about relatives and friends and their adventures these cards could spark.

Might you consider, in addition to your art project, making a coffee table book out of them? You can scan both sides of a selection of the cards and have them made into a lovely book by places like Shutterfly and Tinyprints. Could be a nice holiday present for family memebers too.

You could create a little voyage story with them, in a long narrow frame, and run it down a hallway. Kind of like starting with the house, then the port city, the ship, the destination, sights to be seen there, etc.

I ADORE this kind of art. I have many postcards, too. I also frame notecards because I can enjoy the beauty without needing a large wall space. Two of these are note cards and two are postcards. Forgive my poor quality photos!

I have used the "multi-type" frames but they are not very nice quality.

Is there anything written on the back of them? I live in Maine, and a friend found a card at a show in TN that looks like a watercolor of the river that borders my property. It's postmarked 1913, and from someone very well known in my city at that time.

He's writing to another postcard collector in Dover, OH that he can swap many others of Maine, but not more than 5 at a time should be sent, as he will be charged Postage Due for them! The postage is 1 cent. I keep it in a clear acrylic 'stand up frame' so I can also show the back side to friends.

Like THESE.

Yes, they were all written to both of my great grandmothers. Really cool to see ones from my mom and dad on their honeymoon in 1955, from my aunt and uncle while stationed in the Philipines, etc. I think I may order a couple of these that hold 4 postcards to try them out. There is an option to have the back clear so the cards are readable. Hobby Frames

Show us how they turn out. I have a bunch too.

They look very nice. I love the way you have them grouped, with a theme, same but different.