How Esther Howland Invented the Modern-Day Valentine’s Day

The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately 190 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year in the U.S., with Hallmark alone making 1,400 different valentines. But in the 1800s, valentines were a far different affair of the heart. Back then they were usually a cheaply made token of love, a few lines of rhyme on a slip of paper, often selected and printed and sold by shopkeepers.

That changed thanks to Esther Howland, a 20-year-old graduate of Mount Holyoke College living in Worcester, Massachusetts, who ushered in what is now a $20 billion holiday. Known as the “Mother of the American Valentine,” Howland is credited with the commercial mass production of valentines in the mid-1800s.

Esther Howland’s richly designed and lace-covered
Valentine’s cards were an instant hit.

Howland’s father owned a large bookstore in Worcester that stocked richly designed and lace-covered cards from England. Overseas, the holiday was much more popular and commercialized. Howland copied the British card style. Her fancy handmade cards of paper, lace, and ribbons would forever change valentines.

A cloth and lace Valentine’s card made by Esther Howland, ca. 1870s.
Typescript inside card: ‘You say my heart, my too fond heart, Is cold,
my dear, to you; Ah! canst thou such a thought impart To one who loves so true?’
Photo Courtesy of Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, Massachusetts

In 1849, she created well-received prototypes. Setting up headquarters in her family’s Worcester home, her New England Valentine Co. sold cards for as little as 15 cents and for as much as 75 cents, an enormous amount at a time when the average American worker made less than a dollar a day. Yet love knows no bounds or budget, it seems. Late in life, the Boston Globe placed her company’s annual sales between $50,000 and $75,000 a year, an impressive sum at the time.

This mid-19th-century Valentine by Esther Howland is a
collage of colored papers, lace paper, and chromolithographed
die-cut scraps. It is 3 15/16 inches in width and 6 1/8 inches in length.
Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art

And yet, like true love, Howland’s legacy has endured. So-called Howland valentines are treasured by collectors. A Christie’s auction sold six for between $94 to $489. What’s more, a selection of her work resides alongside some of the greatest artwork in the world at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Howland’s designs were innovative. She introduced layers of lace,
wafers of colored paper placed beneath lace, three-dimensional
accordion effects and a mechanical bouquet in which pulling a
string moves flowers aside to reveal printed verses underneath.
She insisted that verses and mottos not appear on the outer surface of a card.
Photo Courtesy American Antiquarian Society

For more information on valentines, visit the American Antiquarian Society, which has a collection of over 3,000 valentines ranging in date from the 1830s to 1900.

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Uncovering the History and Value of Antique Valentine’s Day Cards

Dear Lee,

We can’t help ourselves. We are fond of vintage Valentine’s Day cards. We can thank Esther Howland of Massachusetts for the first commercial Valentine’s Day cards in the United States. In the 1840s, she added lace to her own drawings and put them in decorated envelopes. A tradition—and an industry—was born.

You can date old valentines by the style of the clothes, cars, hairdos, houses and even furniture. As the boomer generation starts looking over its shoulder, valentines from the 1960s and 1970s are becoming more collectible. Adults who went to grade school in those decades remember the cards that were punched out of big pieces of stiff paper and sold in packets, with matching (flimsy) envelopes. One card for each person in the classroom and a special one for the teacher!

If you run across those cards, or better yet, a whole box of them, you’ll easily be able to spot the era they were made. Hot pinks, bright reds, stylized children with big eyes and standard sayings such as “Bee My Valentine” on a card decorated with bees made them distinctive. The graphics, sentiments and condition all make the cards collectible.

Flea markets and craft shows are the most likely source of collections, as well boxes in your parents’ or grandparents’ attics and basements. Don’t forget my prime rule: Never throw out a box without going through it carefully!

If you find some cards you really like, use acid-free paper or boxes to preserve them. Go to the National Valentine Collectors Association (ValentineCollectors.com) or the Greeting Card Association (GreetingCard.org) for more information.

Happy Valentine’s Day (and happy collecting!)

 

Collectors Love Valentines

The first commercial Valentine’s Day cards in the United States were made in the 1840s by Esther Howland of Massachusetts, who added lace to her own drawings and put them in decorated envelopes. She started an industry making cards with the help of artists and printing machines.

In the 1890s, embossed valentines with moving parts called “mechanicals” came into vogue. Honeycomb tissue that popped up when the card was opened was used from the 1840s to the 1930s. So-called Penny Dreadfuls started being made in the 1930s through the 1940s. They contained jokes and insults. By the mid-1940s, sweet Valentine’s Day cards were often accompanied by heart-shaped boxes with chocolate candy designed just for the holiday.

If you find old valentines at flea markets or yard sales, you can date them by the style of the clothes, cars, hairdos, house styles or even a phone. Save the cards that have a date, like the year of an Olympics, World’s Fair or Disney movie. Use acid-free paper or boxes to preserve vintage cards.

To find out more, search Kovels.com for “Valentines,” or sites like the National Valentine Collectors Association.

 

 

Valentine’s Day Traditions

Dear Lee,

Hello, February! ‘Tis the season of love and … Valentine’s Day cards. Vintage valentines cards are favorite collectibles because of their sentiments and graphics. If you are thinking of collecting old cards or find some in a box in your attic or at a flea market, remember that how they were made and what they were made of helps tell their age. The first commercial valentines in the United States were made in the 1840s by Esther Howland of Massachusetts. She used real lace and fancy envelopes with her freehand drawings. Howland’s cards were sophisticated and expensive. She started an industry making cards with the help of artists and printing machines.

In the 1890s, embossed “mechanicals,” or valentines with moving parts, were popular. Honeycomb tissue that popped up when the card was opened was used from the 1840s to the 1930s, and it is back in favor again. Who doesn’t love the jokes and insults of “Penny Dreadfuls?” These insulting cartoons were popular in the 1930s through the 1940s.

Most adults remember the little cards sold in packages with enough for a whole classroom and the teacher. Distributing those into lunch bags with each child’s name written on them is a rite of passage in grade schools. Did you know that small die-cut cards picturing children were first sold on a long sheet of thick paper to be punched, not cut, out? Five-and-dime stores sold packets of 25, one for each classmate and a large one for the teacher, with envelopes for 19 cents. Everyone in the class could receive a card so no one would feel left out. And by the mid-1940s, sweetness was added to the day with heart-shaped boxes with chocolate candy designed just for the holiday.

You can date old valentines by the style of the clothes, cars, hairdos, even houses or, perhaps, a phone. Save the cards that indicate a date, like the year of an Olympics, World’s Fair or Disney movie.

If some vintage greeting cards catch your eye, use acid-free paper or boxes to preserve them. You can learn more from the National Valentine Collectors Association (ValentineCollectors.com) or the Greeting Card Association (GreetingCard.org). The clubs are also listed on Kovels.com.

Happy Valentine’s Day!