The Lafayettes, as indicated in the title of this book, refer to Lafayette and West Lafayette in Northwest Indiana. Postcards of that area emerged in the late 1800s as the population began to grow. Since those early days, the number of residents in Lafayette has grown to more than 70,000, and West Lafayette has increased to almost 45,000. These figures exclude Purdue University students, who number more than 40,000 enrolled each year. Postcards from Columbia Park in Lafayette, the Indiana Veterans' Home in West Lafayette, Fort Ouiatenon, and the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe in Battle Ground round out this diverse collection detailing the area's unique history.

Author W.C. Madden has collected more than 200 postcards of the local area for this book. This is his second postcard book for Arcadia Publishing, a follow-up to his 2003 publication, Indianapolis in Vintage Postcards. Madden has authored 46 books during his lifetime and 10 titles with Arcadia; he would like to live long enough to write 100 books.