Smithsonian Holds More Than A Century of Valentines

2/11/2003

From: Vicki Moeser, 202-357-2627 ext. 111 Jaime Kobin, 202-357-2627 ext. 127 both of the Smithsonian Institution

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 -- Who can forget the elementary school Valentine's Day card exchange? According to the Greeting Card Association, teachers are the number one recipients of Valentine cards. But there's more to valentines than kids' stuff. Ranking second only to Christmas in the number of seasonal cards purchased, and accounting for 25 percent of total seasonal card sales, Valentine's Day generates booming commercial business in the United States.

The day has been celebrated since ancient Roman times, but the modern American tradition of mass-produced cards didn't begin until the mid-1940s. Some of these cards are preserved forever in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

"The cards themselves tell you so much," says Anne O'Donnell, a museum research fellow who is currently studying early 20th-century greeting cards. "They're a great untapped resource."

Tens of thousands of items-including embossed, mechanical, fuzzy, lacy and even Braille cards-are found in the museum's Archives Center.

The collection is an extraordinary record of greeting card history, says John Fleckner, chief archivist. "Besides the artistic value of the cards, the collection is also a business story about two companies, Norcross and Rust Craft, and the rise of a modern industry." The collection includes the full run of cards produced by Norcross and Rust Craft during the 20th century, plus an antique assortment. Business documents include original artwork, press clipping scrapbooks and articles the companies published on the histories of holidays.

In the past, holiday greetings were handmade and verses penned from the heart.

"In the 1840s, St. Valentine's Day in the U.S. was rejuvenated, almost reinvented," according to Leigh Eric Schmidt in his book Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays. "It went from being an often forgotten, easily neglected Old World saint's day to being an indigenous, not-to-be-missed American holiday."

Esther Howland of Worcester, Mass., became the country's first Valentine publisher. Today she is known as the "Mother of American Valentines" and is remembered for her use of the assembly line to make cards: one friend cut pictures, another painted flowers, a third added lace, and so on.

Over the years, O'Donnell says, American Valentines have served as a "social barometer," faithfully mirroring popular culture, design and historical movements. Victorian cards featured hand painting, writing, locks of hair, colored seals and ribbons along with the lace paper valentines. Cobweb or beehive cards were popular in the 1840s. Unlike modern folded cards with a message inside, these flat cards have a tassel attached to a spiral of paper, which, when lifted, reveal a pertinent message. During World War I, the colors red, white and blue were widely used. And Scottie dogs were popular in the 1930s during the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

But cards also reflect social ills of our past.

"All the prejudices of the day certainly appear in greeting cards," Fleckner says. Through greeting cards we see views of women and racial and ethnic stereotypes that would be unacceptable by today's standards. One 1960s example reads, "Honey, You're the world's most wonderful spouse, I'd put you on a pedestal, But then who'd clean the house?"

A single card provides little information, but the Archives Center collection represents an evolution in the greeting card industry. What began as handmade letter-like documents became "part of a commercial visual culture that includes advertising and graphic art," according to Fleckner. Despite fleeting trends, hearts, flowers and lace have remained perennial favorites.

Fleckner also points out that greeting card history is inextricably "tied to the evolution of the postal system." A hand-created, pre-Civil War Valentine's Day message, for instance, was folded and sent to David in Springfield, N.J. without an envelope. Among its poems, "The rose is red, The violet's blue, Sugar is sweet, And so are you."

The Archives Center at the National Museum of American History contains original primary sources for understanding American history, with special strengths in the areas of technology, advertising and music. Through collections of paper-based textual records, photographs, films, videos and sound recordings - all rich in important historical themes like gender, ethnicity and culture - the museum records the complexity and richness of the American experience. Although many of the items were never intended as historical evidence, these everyday pieces now serve as vital links between present and past.

Appointments are required to view the greeting card collection or other items in the Archives. Call (202) 357-3270 or visit http://www.si.edu/organiza/museums/nmah/archives/ac-i.htm.