Stuart Lassen Postcard Collection, c. 1993

dc.coverage.temporal	Battle Creek. Michigan, circa 1993	en_US
dc.identifier.other	LPC-001-035-001	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://dspace.willardlibrary.org/xmlui/handle/123456789/8399
dc.description	Newspaper clipping from Barr's News, February 15 1993. Caption on front: Collector of the Month STUART LASSEN (It's Been a Fast Track) I've been bitten by the bug. The collector's bug, this is. My name is Stuart Lassen and I have lived in Battle Creek, Michigan all my life. While I thought I knew plenty about my hometown, nothing could prepare me for all the history and tradition I have discovered through my post card collection. My friends and family kid me that my collecting has become a second job. The aren't far from the truth. I travel to postcard shows almost every weekend along with Jenne Lou my wife, scouting out postcards of Battle Creek. Many people know of my hometown, nicknamed the "Cereal Capital of the World," because it is a base for cereal makers Kelloggs, Post and Ralston Purina since the early 1900's. While part of my collection focuses on the cereal industry in my town, it also extends far beyond that. I also have 20 albums of postcards separated into numerous categories of Battle Creek. Choosing to focus my collection on Battle Creek was not a difficult choice. I grew up fascinated with the town's history and my family's living in its community since early 1900's. More than 60 years ago my father operated a car dealership in Battle Creek. Today, I own that same Pontiac-Cadillac dealership and have three sons who work with me, carrying on the Lassen tradition. In my spare time, I used to busy myself playing golf or tennis. One summer weekend in 1990 I was tired of chasing little white balls and convinced my wife to join me at the Centreville Michigan Antique Market. I was impressed by the number of people enjoying themselves hunting down treasures to collect. I decided at that moment that I needed a hobby that I didn't have to dust or worry about breaking and that didn't cost too much. Once I started "postcarding" I decided two out of three wasn't bad. I started out my collection at Phil Wagner's postcard booth. He is from the neighboring city of Kalamazoo and had numerous postcards of Battle Creek. Next, I traveled to another neighboring city, Marshall, and I bought $200 worth of Battle Creek postcards at an auction. I was hooked. At this point, I became friends with Dee Seeley, a well-known postcard and antique dealer. She was helped me expand my collection. In the fall of 1990, the Western Michigan Postcard Club held their annual show, and of course my wife and I attended. After five hours of fruitless searching I happened upon a booth where the owner was selling his entire collection of four different towns, one of which was Battle Creek. We started negotiating one by one for his postcards. Within 30 minutes I had purchased his entire collection. I went from a collection of 100 cards to 1,500 - all in one day. My current collection stands at about 3,000 cards. My wife and I are members of the Western Michgian Postcard Club. Besided [sic] the friends we have met within this group, we have also made lasting friends with other collectors during our weekend travels. Searching for postcards has helped us find a whole new world of fun and interesting people. My collection continues to grow and become even more diversified. While my wife and I have seen other collections as big or bigger than mine, we have yet to meet anyone who has built their collection as fast. We keep looking and find many that are priced fair and sometimes they are priced too high. It's just like the car business, if the price is too high, we don't buy - or make them an offer. And I keep adding to my collection. So, if you have any real photo postcards of Battle Creek, send them to me on approval. Barr's Post Card News congratulates Stuart Lassen on his collection. Collectors of the Month receives a year's free subscription to Barrs.	en_US
dc.format.extent	300 dpi tif.; xxx KB	en_US
dc.format.medium	newspaper article	en_US
dc.language.iso	En	en_US
dc.subject	Lassen, Stuart A.	en_US
dc.subject	Lassen, Jenne Lou	en_US
dc.subject	Organizations - Western Michigan Postcard Club	en_US
dc.subject	B.C. Advertising I	en_US
dc.title	Stuart Lassen Postcard Collection, c. 1993	en_US
dc.type	Image	en_US