This one seems suitably timed for a ‘back to school’ / ‘back to uni’ Picture Postals post. The postcard shows an especially lively view of the Brown University gates at the top of College street (the ‘Van Wickle gates’). These were a stone’s throw from Lovecraft’s last home behind the John Hay Library, and he would have used them when accessing the campus grounds. He visited for public lecture series, and I recall he sometimes took a walk around the fine architecture and parkland campus with his aunt. Here we also see the John Hay, later to house the Lovecraft Collection.

I’ve colorised the picture.

And here are the gates from the other side, the road side. Showing the hint of white marble Roman columns behind, something Lovecraft would have appreciated.

And here is Lovecraft sitting in a nook in the same gates in the 1930s.

The gates as the basis for the cover of Lovecraft Studies #5, and re-imagined as an entrance to Miskatonic University…