The holidays have arrived and blowing in with the cold winds is a small blizzard of cards bearing best wishes for prosperity and merriment in so many, and often insipid, words. However, these often ill-received messages could be the one truly special gift a family receives in an increasingly jaded era for humanity.

In an age of near instantaneous communication, of an Internet horizon that has expanded to take in the globe, the written word is becoming more rare – and therefore more precious. With work time on the rise and personal time plummeting, receiving a handwritten missive, even something only a few words long, speaks to the writer’s effort and caring.

Artist Alison Williams uses old letters, pens and books as subjects for her digital photos. The use of old and new create interesting visual eff ects and speak to a time when the world worked a little slower.

More importantly, preserving a select few of the cards and letters for future generations can provide a context and understanding of how people have changed, friendships formed and died, the warp and weft of the threads that form a social fabric.

In the following piece, the Mirror provides a few tips and tricks and examples of sending out a true traditional greeting with paper, ink, pen, effort, and most of all, heart.

It truly is the thought behind a gift that counts and holding a card or letter bearing the direct transmission of thoughts and emotions to paper will always outweigh an e-mail or phone message.

“This a history of the state,” said Smolen, a special collections librarian, “and it’s not just about the famous people like Daniel Webster. This collection documents the anonymous as well as the famous.”

Within the ephemera collection, ephemera being Latin for “not meant to last,” are scores of postcards, broken down by holiday and topic. Christmas and New Year, as well as Easter and Thanksgiving, play the largest role. The card printing ranges from simple to elaborate, from one color to multicolored gems embossed, formed and dusted with gold and silver inks. The messages range as widely as the cards themselves, from no message and a simple signature to the emotions of a lifetime writ small for mailing and putting the front artwork to shame.

While Smolen usually doesn’t delve into details, the collection holds an appeal for him.

“This is almost a visual history of Thanksgiving,” he said, gesturing to a selection of cards arrayed on a table in the society’s bottom floor research area. “You can see the themes, the way peoples’ ideas about the holiday changed.”

Smolen said the society has preserved early Thanksgiving proclamations from only a handful of years after the area that was to become New Hampshire was settled.

“Those had more of a religious tone to them, more of the sense they were an order. As the years go by the religious part of it fades, but you can still see the idea of giving thanks for what you have,” he said.

While there will always be an ephemera collection, like personal greetings, the collection is being eroded by electronic media. Computers are a blessing and a curse for historians, opening vast research potential, while at the same time decreasing the letters and cards and inconsequential writings that bring the past to life.

“Think about it,” said Smolen. “We’ve lost so much information since the computers were introduced. How many computers can use floppy disks? How many people have movies on VHS that they can’t watch anymore because they can’t find a player or the tape degraded?

“The best thing people can do to preserve their history is to print everything out, papers and photos. Otherwise there’s a good chance they could lose it.”

More than a preservation issue, the electronic age has ushered in an era of quick notes that exist for a brief time before being deleted and returned to binary code.

“The motto of the National Archives is ‘the written word endures.’ I think there will always be a place for writing. It’s not going to go away any time soon. Me? I’d still rather get a card than an e-mail.”