In On a Technicality

By now you've figured out I'm a collector of postcards. Other types of ephemera, with their interesting graphics, I enjoy looking at, but after I've looked them over and scanned those graphics, can leave my possession and go to the thrift store, a friend's craft project, a museum… whatever. I really don't care about them, other than to have hopes that someone else will enjoy them.

Postcards, on the other hand… I could easily catch myself hoarding them. If I ever let you touch any of them, you know I trust you, and if ever any of them leave my possession, you know darned well you are loved more than ice cream, bacon, and chocolate combined (and/or individually, as a total). Depending upon which cards I let you take home, I might even love you more than I love my cat (don't tell her that, though).

In among my postcards, though, I have a few hundred not-technically-postcard-and-yet-postcardy souvenir folders and souvenir booklets. You know the usual sorts: ten or so postcard images printed on a regular strip of paper and accordion-folded to fit, glued to the inside of a folder, or a stack of eight to ten cards stapled – or bound together with a piece of plastic pressed into a curl (a variation on spiral binding) – with some form of cover to indicate the contents. And then there are the boxes or envelopes stuffed with photo cards, and clearly marked as souvenirs of a place.

And then there's this.

I hang onto it and view it as my oldest (to date) souvenir booklet, because it somewhat predates the picture postcard (here's a brief history of the postal medium, in case you're interested). I doubt it was ever mailed anywhere – it was clearly not designed to have an address and a stamp added to it – but it qualifies as a "wish you were here" item, in my view, so in my collection it stays.

Also, there's this Martin Luther thing…

So, the non-postcard souvenir folder gets to hang out with the postcards, for now. 

It's a case…

and a folder

and a small stack of photos.
Therefore: souvenir folder. So. There.

As you can see in the above snapshots at my lap desk, the photos have faded slightly, and yellowed into sepia range. I didn't do a lot of correction, but a couple also had stains, so removing most of the color helped in restoring the images. 

The back of this photo had a sticker on it, explaining the importance of this inn...

Is this the Martin Luther equivalent of "George Washington slept here"?

How's your German? Mine was C-student quality when I was in college, and it's gotten progressively rustier since the late 1980s…

Still, I think I may have picked up the gist. I'll be happy to hear from anyone, though, who wants to give me a full account.