West Virginia, Sec. A. Backed Practice Cards. Routes and County Printed on Back

Approximately 1200 printed paper cards, 1.75 x 3.25 inches, housed in a wooden box, 16.5 x 4 x 2.5 inches with hinged lid and paper label to one end. Constructed with dovetails and bent nail hinges, the bottom panel is splitting near one nail and one of the make-do hinges is wobbly; paper label heavily chipped but cards have only light occasional fingersoil. Undated, possibly from the 1920s or 1930s. The label indicates a price of $3.25, matching a price list issued on a paperboard-boxed set from 1937, suggesting the wooden box was an earlier offering at the same price point.

A tool for postal workers to practice sorting in advance of their exams (and reference when need be), the cards are printed with the name of a town on one side, with the county and names of the railway companies that service them on the other. Nearly all the cards were produced by the Amsterdam Printing Company, which had been established by former railway mail clerks. Referred to as "Amsterdam Practice Cards," they were advertised in Post Office Clerk as early as 1913 and were also available with blank backs to be completed manually. (Long. Mail by Rail. New York : Simmons-Boardman Pub. Corp, 1951, p.54) 

This set includes many cards with manuscript additions and corrections reflecting changes to the routes and companies that serviced them. About 25 are marked "Discontinued," 4 are entirely in manuscript on printed blanks, with about 20 same blanks remaining. Two dividers and what appears to be the set's "title" code are also present. Now obsolete, the cards were purchased in Berkeley Springs, WV, with a note that the set had later been used as a geography flash card game for students to memorize WV towns and counties. Uncommon in both commerce and institutions--OCLC shows single holdings of Practice Card sets from South Dakota and Oklahoma.