Who knew business cards could be so compelling?

Surely the business card is one of those material items that's begun the slow fade to oblivion with the rise of email contact lists, avatars and social media in general. It'd be tough to imagine a group of contemporary power brokers sitting around comparing their cards a la that memorable scene in American Psycho (which is set at the close of the 1980s). Nevertheless, they're certainly not dead yet. But as they become less ubiquitous, the degree to which they take on an archival value -- similar to the type of thing that my old photograph posts explore -- slowly increases.

Case in point: I just discovered a Tumblr blog dedicated to business cards, many of which are from Toronto. Put together by cardgirl -- a.k.a. Mary Beth -- the collection is surprisingly compelling, whether this be on account of the oddity of some of the cards or because as a group they offer an alternate form of urban documentation.

The single column blog layout and red and blue backdrops might not offer the best way to display these -- at some point it'd be cool to see them presented in a cleaner and larger grid -- but once I started perusing the cards tagged Toronto, I couldn't really stop. And despite what appears to have been a hiatus over the fall, the collection is once again being added to, so this'll definitely be a mini time-waster that I return to.

Check out more of the Toronto business cards here. And a hat tip to @mondoville who tweeted about this yesterday.