In an episode of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW filmed at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron, Ohio, a guest presented a collection of postcards from the mid-1960s, handwritten by Fred Rogers, the beloved host of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." The guest had acquired these postcards unexpectedly at a local auction, purchasing what was thought to be a single Valentine's Day postcard but turned out to be an entire shoebox of personal correspondence. Among these were postcards from Fred Rogers, in which he inquired about the well-being of the recipients and discussed the potential market for his new show in the Cleveland area. The appraiser, Ken Gloss, highlighted the significance of these postcards, noting their connection to Rogers' early television career, including his time in Canada with the "MisteRogers" show before launching "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" in 1968. The collection was appraised at a retail value between $1,500 and $2,500.
I went to a local auction in my neighborhood. I was bidding on what I thought was just a single
postcard for Valentine's Day, Victorian era. And nobody bid against me, so I won for one dollar.
And I picked up the postcard and they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, you won the whole box.
So I got a shoebox full of somebody's life and there was these postcards in it. And when I saw
Fred Rogers, I thought, that's the superhero of public television. That's got to be something
very special. And when I started to read the correspondence, it's by him in his hand. And
he's writing to what I think is some family. And he's asking about how they're doing and,
hey, do you think there's any market in the Cleveland area for my new show? So I thought,
wow. Well, I guess I can't help but say this, but it must have been a wonderful day in the
neighborhood when you bought that box of material. Mr. Rogers is obviously so iconic.
One of the things that's really, really nice about these postcards is they're in the mid-60s.
He started in television, children's television, in the 50s. He actually went to Canada and in the
early 60s had the Mr. Rogers Show. And he finally came back from Canada and went to WQED in Pittsburgh
in 1966 and started Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. In this, he mentions ETV. They were a small network
of Eastern public television stations to share shows. What he's saying in one of the letters
that I particularly like, he was saying, okay, we have a few stations that have picked the show up
in the Eastern educational, but do you think maybe Cleveland would pick it up? Because they
were obviously in Ohio. I'd really like to see the show get expanded. And then a few years later,
1970 is when public television, PBS, picked up the show. And that's when it started to really
skyrocket. First of all, they're all signed. And this one is signed, Mr. Rogers, your friend.
Now, the picture is wonderful. And it's what caught my eye. There's nothing written on the
back of this. You got your money back. My dollar? You got your dollar back with this picture. But
there are pictures on the other side of these, but two of them are the same, one slightly different.
Mr. Rogers' signatures, especially where he's talking about his early career, talking about
the problems of the show, thinking about the idea that if they didn't pick it up, what we would have
The three letters, I would say, conservatively on a retail value is $1,500 to $2,500,
conservatively as a package. And they're just so much fun. I mean, what can you say?
