Dear Next President: Vintage secretary types postcards to the White House on behalf of Americans

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On Tuesday, Sheryl Oring arrived at the main branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia looking like she had just stepped off the set of “Mad Men.” She donned a deep blue skirt suit with a bow at the neck, a daisy brooch with matching earrings and cherry red pumps. Her red hair neatly swept into an updo, she looked completely in character as a 1960s secretary modeled after her own grandmother.

“Write a Postcard to the Next President” is Oring’s performance piece in which she takes dictation directly on a manual typewriter from people who want to send a note to whomever occupies the White House in January. Oring slips a piece of carbon paper in the typewriter to make two copies of each note: one goes to the White House and the other goes into her archives, with a photo of the participant and a permission waiver.

The former dean at the now-closed University of the Arts has been doing the “Write a Postcard” project for 20 years. The 2024 electoral version began last summer and has generated over 350 postcards, which she will send to the White House in January.

Baybirye Nteza was passing by on her way to lunch with a friend, when she ducked into the library to use the bathroom. She stopped in her tracks in the lobby, intrigued by Oring’s offer and her vintage typing setup, complete with carbon copy sheets and a rubber date stamp.

“Dear Madam President,” Nteza composed as Oring swiftly clacked at the keys. “Congratulations on your success.”

Nteza’s note completely filled the postcard with her hopes for Vice President Kamala Harris – whom she wishes to win the presidential election. She wants Harris to keep her campaign promises and to be a role model of people of color, particularly Black women.

Nteza finished with a sobering postscript: “P.S. Please stop the war in Gaza.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever written a letter to the U.S. president,” said Nteza. “I thought that was really cute.”

Oring has written over 4,500 postcards to the president since traveling the country with this project in 2004. This work has taken her to Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, New Jersey and New York.

She says people are drawn to the project in large part because of the old-school manual typewriter.

“It draws people in,” Oring said. “When I have a typewriter there’s a very different interaction than if I were here with a microphone or a computer. Some of them have never seen a typewriter.”

Cornelia King was first in line Tuesday to dictate a postcard. A retired librarian, she easily remembers when manual typewriters were standard office equipment.

“It looks very normal to me,” she said.

King had voted for Harris earlier in the day, saying women’s rights were on her mind, particularly access to abortion. Her note was very short: “Congratulations. Women get things done!”

The Free Library was not a polling place on Election Day. Oring was invited to bring her project by its curator of exhibitions Suzanne Urminska, who wanted to give the public a way to communicate with figures of political power in a more nuanced way than ticking a box on a ballot.

“For many of us, we rushed up out of bed this morning and headed to our polling places,” she said. “This is really a chance for us to slow down and be a little bit introspective, and think about what it is that we want our future leaders to think about.”

Urminksa is preparing an exhibition based on Oring’s 20 years of carbon paper and typewriter ribbon. Some of the notes copied on Election Day will be included in the  show expected sometime in 2025.