A common theme I found in these articles about Valentine’s Day is reflecting on the history of the holiday. For example, I found a page in The Highland News Leader from February 9th, 2004, talking all about saving memories from the past and the history of Valentine’s Day! They visited a special display at the Archives Center of the Smithsonian to see some of the valentines that used to be exchanged in the 18th through 20th centuries.
They highlighted four types of vintage valentines: handmade, printed, vinegar, and kids cards. The handmade valentines were often sewn onto pieces of fabric, depicting doves and flowers. Printed valentines were made using paper scraps from stationery stores, often ones that had flowers and hearts, and pasted them onto another piece of paper before writing their message. Vinegar valentines were named after the bitter liquid for their often humorous and sarcastic messages, like one they show in the article encouraging a man to get married. Lastly, they showed some examples of valentines made for kids, which became popular in the 1900’s.
They also included an interview with a man who worked for Hallmark, one of the most popular card-making companies. At the time of their interview, he had been working for Hallmark for over 19 years. He explains that his job is to help come up with card ideas, and he even carries notecards with him wherever he goes in case he has an idea!
Now that I had seen some examples of Valentine’s cards in the past, I started to wonder what the origins of the holiday were. Luckily, I found an article in The Sandpoint News Bulletin published on February 13th, 1980 that answers that very question. In the early days, February 14th was believed to be the day that the mating season began for birds and other small animals. They used the day to copy the animals and show their love to the special person in their life. The day is also associated with a Roman fertility festival where they would pair up young men and women, naming it Saint Valentine’s Day. Over the years, people would send cards with romantic messages to their loved ones on the day. As the tradition began to spread, and industrialization became increasingly popular, Valentine’s Day became the mass-scale production it is today!
The Moline Daily Dispatch brought to my attention more types of valentines day cards. Published on February 10th, 1953, they shared some unique valentines both old and new. One kind was called the Pennsylvania Dutch Cut Out. Originating in the 1800s, this card included intricate designs made by folding and cutting the paper to display a pop-out when the card was opened. Another common type of valentine was slam or comic cards, which would be crude or playful, conveying the true feelings of the sender to the recipient without sugarcoating their thoughts. One other interesting type of Valentine’s card they showcased in this article was paper bouquets made in the same cutout style as the Pennsylvania Dutch cards!
In The Casa Grande Dispatch, published on February 14th, 1919, I learned about one of the first mass producers of Valentine cards. Believe it or not, the industry leader was a young woman from Massachusetts named Esther Howland. After receiving a manufactured Valentine, she was inspired to try to create her own Valentine’s cards. Her prototypes were made with lace paper, cutout pictures, and printed verses, which she sent with her brother on a business trip to see if anyone would be interested. She was surprised when her brother returned with over $5,000 in orders for these manufactured valentines! Calling upon her friends for help, she went on to create a business selling these cards, later turning it into a full-scale production at a factory. On average, Esther’s business sold over $100,000 worth of valentines each year. What a unique story of a young entrepreneur in the Valentine’s Cards industry!
Finally, we travel all the way back to 1887 to learn about the early processes of Valentine’s making. One reporter from The Amesbury News took a visit to a factory that produced thousands of valentines each year. On the first floor of the factory, there were all the paper cutting machines, where the paper was cut into specific-sized squares and then stamped with various Valentine templates. The paper then travels to the second floor, where they print the valentines onto the templates to create the finished product. Of the 400 employees working at the factory, 300 of them were female, making this industry one of the few where women were predominantly employed. At the very top of the building were the offices of the artists who made the valentines. Their designs were then used to create stamps for the cards, which were then used on the first floor. The whole factory was a repeating cycle from top to bottom, producing thousands of cards for people to send to their loved ones each year. I found this to be a fascinating insight into how these cards were produced before we advanced technologically to make them with machines!
I hope you learned something new about the history of Valentine’s Day! Maybe this glimpse into the past even inspired you to make your version of these valentines. Join me again next week to discover more of history’s hidden gems and timeless tales!
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