Roy's Postcards

It's 1981. Roy Richardson is a manager at a Los Angeles computer company. A devout Mormon, he has a two-year-old son, with two daughters yet to be born. He has a little over ten years to live.

I was that two-year-old and Roy was my father. I grew up without him, knowing the outlines of his life but not the details. In 2006, at my mother's house, I found three boxes of details.

My father could never keep up a diary, but he bought over a thousand postcards between 1981 and 1991. On most of them he wrote notes to himself, reminders of what he'd done that day. Others he mailed to us from his business trips. A few he left blank—he just liked the pictures. This site is my attempt to build a picture of my father's life out of photographs taken by others.

To see a randomly selected postcard every day, follow @RoyPostcards on Twitter.

"Recognizing that my writings in this journal in recent years have been sparse, I must comment that my life has not been entirely undocumented. I have accumulated several hundred postcards — together with Frances, Leonard, Susanna, and Rachel — from our outings around town, our long-distance trips and my business trips. Many evenings in the hotel have found me writing postcards to my family and friends and also recording my own experiences on postcards. There are some I hope who will find them of some historical and biographical value — as well as lovely to look at."
—From Roy's journal, 1985

Best-of

Rachel bought this at aerospace...	Wow. This must have belonged to one of my...	Mom & Dad, I decided to drop you a line...	Dear Roy, We're having a really great trip....	I went to the Los Angeles Art Museum today with...
Leonard came by my work today and while Frances...	Frances, Leonard, Susanna and I went to the L.A....	I went to Thriftie's and we got 2 strawberry ice...	I...	Leonard, Susanna, Rachel, Frances and I went...
This is quite a luxury hotel. When the[y] clean...	I feel like I have walked a hundred miles today...	Robert, Sandi and Michael are here visiting and...	I went to Olvera Street with Mommy, Daddy,...	[ROY] I went to the Page Museum with Mommy...
DA [A]ND I WEN[T] TO THE PAGE MUSEUM WE SAW THE...	Dear Susanna, I am at the airport on this...	Today, while Ken Howard and I were walking down...	On our way to Phoenix we had to stop at...	Dear Leonard, At the ranch where we stayed the...
Fran, Thanks again for the great news that...	frances, Leonard, Susanna, Rachel and I took...	Dear Leonard, I bought this postcard for...	Dear Leonard, I am on my way to Hawaii. I...	I was intrigued by this weird postcard. I talked...
Dear Leonard - I bought this for you last...	Dearest Frances, A postcard of some of the...	Dear Franny, Well, here I've gone down to...	Dear Frances, I am having quite an...	Dear Leonard, I saw this whale card...
Dear the, I am having fun here in hawaii. We...	Dear Roy, Thanks for all you do for the...	Frances and I went for a date last night to eat...	(Written in mirror writing) Dear Leonard, ...	[boustrophedon writing] Dear Leonard, I...
I love birdies so much. Birdies can fly, but...	I heard that you are going to have a birthday...	Dear Leonard, I'm having a wonderful time at...	Frances and I once again enjoy the lovely Tick...	Frances, Leonard and I visited the Jefferson...
Dear CMG attendee: We're all here in Vegas...	Dear Susanna, I'm having a good time. I hope...	I acquired this card yesterday at the CMG '86...	Frances and I went shopping today and I found...	Dear Mr. Leonard, I hear that you are a...
Wow, after a million pictures of airports, this...	Hello from Idaho-- I'm at an HP 3-day meeting...	We saw this tour. It was fun. It was by the...	I want them to be alive, I don't want them to be...	Polacanthus was big and mean, He could eat...
Dear Roy, Here is where we ate. We need to...	Dear CICS User: We're here in sunny Orlando...	1988 HAPPY...	Now that's some funky 1980s graphic...	Dear Friend Leonard, Greetings from your...
[Mirror writing] Dear Friend Leonard, ...	Dear Leonard, This guy sure has pointed...	Dear Leonard, Guess what? We dinosaurs have...	I went to Magic Mountain with the band and got...	To Susie From...
Leonard, I hope you like this picture of the...	Dear Leonard, How woudl you like to meet...	We stayed in Santa Rosa NM last night. We had...	CONGRATULATIONS Excellence in Education ...	This is the last postcard that Roy bought. I...

Guide to the collection

Browse by year:

Unknown and pre-1981 (47)
1981 (12)
1982 (47)
1983 (301)
1984 (232)
1985 (256)
1986 (268)
1987 (194)
1988 (45)
1989 (20)
1990 (26)
1991-1992 (66)

Or browse by tag:

ads (29)
animals (18)
anne (1)
best-of (65)
birthday (4)
california (134)
colorado (44)
dc (103)
dinosaurs (91)
disney (5)
disneyland (69)
earl (6)
east (3)
expo86 (46)
face (12)
find-the-physical-postcard (1)
foreign (49)
frances (38)
griffith-observatory (21)
hawaii (176)
incomplete (10)
la (196)
la-brea (4)
labrea (8)
lacma (11)
lacmnh (47)
lamnh (3)
lds (66)
lejeune (9)
leonard (52)
leonardw (6)
map (7)
midwest (5)
mismatched (28)
missing-front (10)
museums (3)
new-orelans (1)
new-orleans (18)
no-back (1)
northeast (1)
northwest (53)
oklahoma (1)
olympics (16)
rachel (158)
rosalie (2)
roy (4)
sf (43)
smithsonian (44)
software (5)
south (28)
southwest (77)
space (11)
stereotypes (5)
susanna (171)
texas (19)
unicorn (1)
utah (103)
vegas (37)
zoo (47)

Miscellaneous notes

I've blurred out a few personal details. There are several postcards in the collection from other people; in most cases I didn't put those postcards up.

If you like this project, you might also like to see Roy's computer buttons.

This document (source) is part of Crummy, the webspace of Leonard Richardson (contact information). It was last modified on Friday, November 27 2015, 20:49:15 Nowhere Standard Time and last built on Wednesday, May 25 2022, 10:00:27 Nowhere Standard Time.

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