Alderson Public Library postcard project aims to connect all 50 states for America’s 250th
By Hannah Yost, RealWV
ALDERSON, W.Va. — At the Alderson Public Library, a postcard is more than a piece of mail.
For library director Nathan, it is a way to connect a small West Virginia town to libraries, communities, and people across the country — and even around the world — as America prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday.
Nathan became director of the Alderson Public Library in April and said he “hit the ground running.” The library serves an area of about 1,400 people, while Alderson itself has a population of about 900.
Through the postcard project, Nathan hopes to bring attention to the town he now serves.
“What I’m doing with the postcards brings a spotlight to the wonderful town of Alderson,” he said.
The idea started after Nathan saw pen pal-style projects in library Facebook groups. He began wondering what might happen if the concept became something larger.
“We’re celebrating the 250th birthday of America this year,” Nathan said. “We won’t see another milestone like this in our life. It’s an opportunity to create something cool and come together.”
The goal is to collect postcards from libraries in all 50 states, every county in West Virginia, and anywhere else in the world that wants to participate. Nathan said the project is open to libraries, schools, community members, and individuals who want to send a postcard to Alderson.
He also plans to send postcards back.
When postcards arrive, many show images of local landmarks, landscapes, or pieces of the sender’s community. Nathan wants Alderson’s return postcards to do the same for the Greenbrier Valley.
“I want to share Alderson, West Virginia, with the rest of the world,” he said. “The Greenbrier Valley is such a cool area with a lot to offer.”
The postcards Nathan has purchased locally show scenes of Alderson, including the old bridge, the train depot, and the mountains. He said those images give people who may have never heard of Alderson a snapshot of the town and may even encourage them to learn more.
“People are able to get a beautiful snapshot of Alderson, West Virginia,” he said.
Nathan said the response to the project has already been more than he expected. He has shared the project through Facebook, TikTok, and Reddit, and people have responded from across the United States and beyond.
“I’m just a guy in a small town in West Virginia, and a lot of people are excited to see a project like this,” he said.
As of the interview, Nathan said close to 120 people from around the world had committed to sending postcards, with responses coming from places including Puerto Rico, England, Wales, and Scotland.
The timing is especially meaningful in Alderson, a town known for having one of the largest Fourth of July celebrations in West Virginia. Nathan said Alderson starts preparing early for the holiday, and the library hopes to add something new to the celebration this year.
The library plans to open for part of the Fourth of July, giving families a quiet, cool space to take a break, look at books, and see the postcard display. Visitors will be able to view postcards that have arrived from around the country and world.
The project, Nathan said, gives Alderson residents and visitors a way to connect with other places while also sharing their own community with others.
“People sending the postcards will get to experience Alderson when they get a postcard back,” he said.
For Nathan, the project also reflects what libraries can be.
During his interview process for the library director position, he said he talked about libraries being more than just books.
“It’s a place for communities to come together,” he said. “There’s more that they offer than just books.”
The postcard project is one way to bring people through the library doors, spark curiosity, and remind people that libraries are places of connection, history, literacy, and community.
Nathan said the project also shows the power of social media. A post can reach people far beyond a small town, and platforms like TikTok can help libraries connect with audiences they may not otherwise reach.
At the same time, the project uses something more traditional: the postal service.
“We’re utilizing the postal service too,” Nathan said. “Postcards aren’t popular anymore. We’re not emailing libraries to make a connection, we’re using postcards. It’s more personal.”
Nathan said he has woken up at 2 a.m. to respond to messages from people across the country and world asking about the project. That excitement, he hopes, will translate into more people visiting their own libraries and seeing what resources and programs are available.
“This is just a tool,” he said. “It’s a tool to get people in the door.”
The project also has the potential to teach children and families about geography, history, reading, and community. A child in Alderson could see a postcard from Scotland and become interested in where it came from. Another could discover a small town in another state that feels surprisingly similar to their own.
Nathan said one postcard came from a small town in Texas that serves about 1,200 people — a rural community not so different from Alderson.
“You think everything is bigger in Texas, but there’s places just like this all over,” he said.
That, he said, is one of the main lessons he hopes people take away.
“At the end of the day, we’re all people,” Nathan said. “It doesn’t matter where we come from, we all live similar lives in different places.”
Nathan hopes to turn the postcards into a book the Alderson Public Library can keep forever, creating a lasting record of the project and the country’s 250-year milestone.
He wants the project to become more than a one-week celebration around the Fourth of July.
“I want this to create a connection to this area, a lasting project that’s not just for the week of July,” he said. “It’s a keepsake.”
Nathan is encouraging anyone who wants to participate to send a postcard. That includes libraries, schools, families, individuals, and communities in West Virginia, across the country, and around the world.
He is also asking readers to help spread the word.
“Even if you’re in Lewisburg, or on the western end of the county, I want anyone who wants to be involved to send a postcard,” he said. “This is open to everyone.”
Alderson Public Library is still working toward its goal of receiving postcards from every state and all 55 counties in West Virginia. The more people share the project, Nathan said, the more likely the library is to reach that goal.
For a small-town library in West Virginia, the project has already become something bigger than expected: a celebration of place, connection, literacy, curiosity, and the simple joy of receiving something personal in the mail.
Please share this story to help the Alderson Public Library reach its goal for America’s 250th birthday celebration.
Postcards can be mailed to:
Alderson Public Library
115 Walnut Ave.
Alderson, WV 24910-9220
