How did we become so obsessed with sending cards in
the first place? We have a card for everything these days. They used to be only
for special occasions, a few holidays and for getting well. Now, there are
cards for retirees, as well as those getting their first job or those simply
changing to a new job. We have cards for friends, lovers, and those somewhere
in-between. There’s hello, goodbye, sorry, and a whole host of other messages
we used to write in letters to people, or we called them on the telephone and told
them. Amazingly, we can even buy blank cards to write our own messages!
And no other holiday, aside from Christmas, do we feel
the need to give cards more than on Valentine’s Day. Elementary students make
them at school for all their classmates, parents, siblings, and other family
members.
So, how did all this get started? Well, you can thank
or blame (depending on your view) the current obsession of giving Valentines
cards on the Victorians or at least, in part, for setting the stage. In the
1830’s, the London stationary firm of Joseph Addenbrooke discovered how to make
paper that looked like lace. They used it to embellish practically everything,
including what was soon to become all the rage in Victorian culture – Valentine
cards with cutouts of hearts, cupids, flowers, and of course, lace paper.
Then, in 1847, a young woman named Esther Howland
created the very first American paper Valentine card after receiving a
commercially made English one from a friend. Esther’s father, who was a
stationer, had supplied her with the special lace paper to make them. However,
it was her traveling salesman brother who came back with an order for five
thousand, after showing them to his customers on the road.
Esther wasted no time. She and a few friends began the
first assembly-line production of American made commercial valentines in a
spare room of their house. These creations were so popular, despite their high
price, that in 1880 she sold her business to the George C. Whitney Company (an
American Valentine competitor) for over $100,000.
Miss Howland is now credited with being the “Mother of
the American Valentine.” So, whether you love or hate the tradition, perhaps she is the one truly responsible for our national infatuation.
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