Postcards have been available to the American public in some form since 1848. As their popularity grew, publishers and printers produced more and more elaborate, colorful, unusual, and humorous postcards to tempt tourists and collectors. This collection has several examples of the changing style of postcards as the US government continued to pass new regulations regarding format, printing, and postage requirements. The most active era for collecting postcards began in 1898 and started to taper off around 1914, when WWI curtailed printing processes and the availability of foreign imports. Albums went out of fashion, but postcards themselves have continued in popularity.

Colonel William Patton Hoskins (1838-1902) and his wife Mary Olivia Rawls Mills (1842-1917) were prominent citizens in Knoxville at the turn of the 19th century, with William maintaining interests in a number of businesses, including banking and coal mining. The Hoskins had seven surviving children: Lelia, Nellie, James (fourteenth president of the University of Tennessee), Lynn, Horace, Bessie, and Mary (Mamie). The family and many of their friends traveled frequently around the United States, and postcards were a low-cost, easy way to keep in touch. Mamie Hoskins was the recipient of many of the postcards in this collection up until her death from tuberculosis in 1908.

Betsey Beeler Creekmore (1915-1995), daughter of Bessie Hoskins Beeler, was the official historian of Knox County for many years, and published a number of books, including Traditional American Crafts, Knoxville - Our Fair City, Knoxville (Knoxville! in 1991), and Knox County, Tennessee: a History in Pictures. She married Frank Creekmore, and their daughter, Betsey, helped her mother with many projects and has maintained an active role in the community as well as becoming an author herself.