Nestled at the foot of East River Mountain in the southern tip of West Virginia, Bluefield calls itself "Nature's Air-Conditioned City" and is a place of great cultural, industrial, and natural wealth. The early to mid-1900s were a booming time for the city, thanks to coal mining and the Norfolk and Western Railway. For the many people who lived in or traveled through the region during that era, postcards provided a simple and convenient way to send both personal correspondence and business communications. Today, Bluefield continues to change and evolve but maintains a strong sense of history, with many of its buildings and homes listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Mary Margaret Spracher Annett, whose family shares a long and continuing history with Bluefield, has collected nearly 200 postcards of the area that highlight scenes of downtown, the rail yard, coalfields, schools, churches, homes, businesses, natural riches, and much more.