Marie Strawn of Onset has been a collector for about 13 years now, but it wasn’t until recently that she learned she was considered to be a “deltiologist.”

“I didn’t know of (the term) until recently, and I’ve been collecting postcards for a while now,” said Strawn, whose stockpile started with postcards she inherited from her grandmother, a resident of Wareham, in 2001.

Since discovering her grandmother’s collection (which included cards from as early as the 1890s, United States Government-issued post cards from as early as 1913, as well as a long-spanning collection of Wareham and Onset-themed cards), Strawn’s jumped in head first into deltiology, scouring eBay, postcard shows, and postcard clubs in an attempt to add to her grandmother’s already well-established compilation.

Recently, Strawn brought her cards to the Old Methodist Meeting House in Wareham for a presentation of her collection in conjunction with the Wareham Historical Society. There, “The Postcard Lady,” as she’s sometimes called, gave members of the audience a history lesson presented through her pile of precious postcards.

“The cards tell part of the history of Wareham and Onset,” said Strawn as she went through the different types of cards.

That history included the aforementioned government cards, some of which were called “Pioneer Cards,” that were big for business correspondence in the U.S. in the 1910s and beyond. “They were very handy.”

Strawn said local businesses, such as a poultry farm on Tyler Avenue in East Wareham, had made up cards where customers could check off their orders and send them in ahead of time so they’d be ready when they arrived to pick their poultry up.

Also included in Strawn’s collection were post cards from “The First Big Dig,” as she called it, or in other words, the construction of the Cape Cod Canal, as well as cards with American Presidents on them and several other different types of cards.

“They come in all kinds,” said Strawn, who noted the cards were also handy because they could be used as correspondence for those traveling by train or carriage to notify family or friends about a traveler’s time of arrival, departure, etc.

For Strawn, the pictures printed on the cards are just part of the fun—she said she particularly enjoys reading the messages (when legible) to see what people were talking to each other about way back when.

“Reading the message is always part of the fun,” she said, noting a particular message from an elderly Onset woman that said, ‘I like it here—I think Onset is a very good place to die.’

One type of card in her collection Strawn is particularly fond of was printed by former Onset resident George Kashimura. Strawn said Kashimura was a swimming instructor on Onset Beach, a fireman with the Onset Fire Department, and the owner of a gift shop in Onset, where he sold the Onset post cards.

“He was a character,” she said, of Kashimura, saying he had cleared Onset Beach of seagrass with the help of a few others from the pier in Onset to Shell Point, which allowed it to be used as a swimming beach, and that he had taught her to swim as a young girl. “He was very proud to be associated with Onset Beach. He just loved it.”

Strawn said that even though a lot of the cards bring back fond memories of people and places in her past, there is still much more to be learned from her present and future collection.

“Collecting post cards has become a history course for me,” she said.