Exhibit: Postcards from the Land of Sky: Images from the LeCompte Collection
When: October 1st, 2023 – November 14th, 2023
Where: Blowers Gallery, Ramsey Library
This exhibit is a collection of the L. C. LeCompte Postcard Collection held in Ramsey Library’s Special Collections (Upper Level). It contains postcards depicting scenes from the Southeastern US. Most were published by the Asheville Postcard Company. Lamar Campbell LeCompte reputedly started in the wholesale postcard business in 1913, with a business initially located on Patton Avenue. However, the 1914 to 1917 Asheville City Directories show LeCompte as a salesman for Smith’s Drug Store, and the first entry for the Asheville Postcard Company is not until 1921 when J L Widman was a business partner.
In 1930, LeCompte moved the business to 31 Carolina Lane in Asheville, and soon the Asheville Postcard Company became the largest distributor of postcards south of Washington, DC. LeCompte soon started to publish his own postcards, traveling around taking photographs of buildings and scenes that he thought would be of interest, and using a publisher to print the cards. LeCompte died in 1977, and the business was inherited by Ruth Thurmond (who donated the majority of the postcards in this collection to UNC Asheville) and Allen Hall, who had both worked with LeCompte for many years. They sold the business in 1978, when the inventory of Asheville Postcard Company was estimated to be several million cards.
Interested in learning more about Ramsey Library Special Collections’ Postcard Collections? Please visit these pages:
Short video of images from the LeCompte Collection
L. C. LeCompte Postcard Collection
Asheville Postcard Company Salesman’s Samples Collection
Fred Kahn Asheville Postcard Collection
As well as this Buncombe County Special Collections page:
George Masa’s works from the Asheville Post Card Company
