The state of Alabama is gearing up to celebrate its 200^th birthday in 2019, and at the Russellville Public Library, director Ashley Cummins has prepared a way to kick off the new year by recognizing this bicentennial.

Starting Jan. 2, RPL will be featuring the Wade Hall Traveling Postcard Exhibit. It will be on display until Feb. 8.

Ruth Elder, Troy University cataloging librarian, will present an overview of the collection and creation of the exhibit, for which she was the main researcher, writer and organizer, Jan. 17.

“I was able to view the exhibit at the Alabama Library Convention last April,” Cummins said.

The exhibit contains a small sampling of the historical postcards Hall collected over the years, which he ultimately donated to the Troy University Archives. His collection contained approximately 25,000 vintage postcards that he acquired during his travels all over the world. They date from the 1900s to the 1960s, according to Troy University’s website.

RPL will spotlight the portion of the exhibit featuring Alabama main streets.

“It’s a beautiful collection, and we thought with the bicentennial coming up, it would be a great exhibit to start the year,” Cummins said.

This traveling postcard exhibit is just one of the ways people can view the collection. Troy University’ website is another way, and the Alabama Mosaic website is a third.