In 1986, the person in charge of the NYS Museum Gift Shop showed me the negative of the Official Tricentennial Photograph that they were having made as posters for the 300th anniversary of the charter of the city of Albany, NY.

    On April 23, 1986, the mayor of the city asked for all of the downtown buildings to leave their lights on at sunset for the official photograph to be taken by Kodak. Everyone did - except City Hall!

    I was given the challenge of thinking of a way that the photo could be produced as a post card. Since the photo was panoramic, a standard card just would not show the whole effect.  From my interest in antique post cards, I remembered that I had a few cards that were "double wide" from that earlier era. In the 1980's, post card manufacturers generally used this size for hotels and motels advertising. When offered this suggestion, the manager liked the idea and the card was produced.

    While I do not have permission to illustrate the card yet, a local television station seems to be using a majority of the design at the top of their web page. You may want to look at it here =>

    The cards are 3½" x 11". The publisher was MWM Dexter in Aurora, Missouri. The card number shown is 99283-D ©1986 Eastman Kodak Dist. by The Museum Shop, Albany, NY 12230.

    7,131 cards were delivered on July 16, 1986
    7,100 cards were delivered on January 13, 1987