Send something

Postcards, mail art, letters, ephemera. Some of it is art, some of it is a gas-station postcard; it all gets cataloged.

The deal

Nothing is returned, nothing is sent back, and no reply is owed in either direction.

You keep your copyright. By sending, you give Third Polar Arch a permanent, non-exclusive right to photograph, catalog and show the front of what you sent, and to use those images to promote this archive. The physical piece stays here.

We choose what gets shown. Not everything goes up. Anything explicit, hateful, or carrying someone's personal information stays off.

What gets shown

Fronts only. Backs and envelopes are never shown, because that is where addresses and private messages live. The one exception is an unused card with a blank back, where the back is just printer's information.

If you want your name or a note attached, write it on the piece or tuck in a slip saying so. Otherwise the entry credits the place it came from, not the person.

Takedowns

Email hello@thirdpolararch.com with the catalog number and it comes down.

How entries are written

Each entry sticks to what can be read off the piece or reasonably worked out from it: postmark, stamps, printing method, card stock, publisher marks. Dates are usually estimates from the card type and are marked as such, with the reasoning shown. No interpretation, no mood writing.