I have large numbers of cards for just about every subject, whereas most collectors specialize. If I’m at a garage sale or somebody’s cleaning out an attic, I’ll offer a bulk price and take the whole box, knowing I’m going to have a lot of duplicates that I then give away to kids or use for trading with other collectors.

I have in front of me a pen-and-ink drawing sketch by the artist Alex Close of the Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library. That’s my favorite because it’s the prettiest building on the campus. It brings back memories from the late ’50s, when there were more restrictions on the women than the guys in mid-week. Freshmen women had a 7 o’clock curfew to be back in the dorm, unless they had had a scheduled activity or if they were at the library, which was open till 10 p.m. I’d go study there, and when people were taking breaks, you could socialize.

When I started collecting, I decided to keep in the lower- price range. The most I ever paid was $10 for one card. Postcards today basically run from 10 cents to $10. Some rare ones cost several hundred dollars. But to me, one card doesn’t make that much difference to warrant a premium price.

I like to tell people, ‘You know, I keep a quarter of a million sitting around the house.’ They say, ‘Dollars? You’re crazy.’ I say, ‘That’s cards, not dollars.’ ”

— As told to Sherri Kimmel