{"id":48021,"date":"2019-02-14T11:57:51","date_gmt":"2019-02-14T16:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=48021"},"modified":"2025-02-13T11:26:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T16:26:34","slug":"3-facts-about-our-ancestors-valentines-day-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/3-facts-about-our-ancestors-valentines-day-cards.html","title":{"rendered":"3 Facts about Our Ancestors\u2019 Valentine\u2019s Day Cards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article \u2013 to celebrate Valentine\u2019s Day \u2013 Gena Philibert-Ortega searches old newspapers to learn about our ancestors\u2019 valentines. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Today Valentine\u2019s Day is often thought of as a \u201cgreeting card holiday\u201d \u2013 but in reality, our ancestors celebrated the day of love in much the same way that we do today, including sending cards. Historical newspapers, such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, provide some interesting insights into the popularity of that special day and our ancestors\u2019 Valentine\u2019s Day cards.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: this Valentine\u2019s Day greeting was published in the San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), 8 February 1866, although not in this exact form.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

#1: Our Ancestors Bought Cards<\/strong><\/p>\n

Valentine\u2019s greetings have been exchanged in Great Britain since at least the middle of the 18th century and printed cards were exchanged starting in 1900. Americans were selling mass-produced valentines by 1849. (1) Newspaper advertisements provide a glimpse into what types of cards were available for purchase.<\/p>\n

An 1856 newspaper advertisement for a bookseller announces:<\/p>\n

\u201cA large assortment of VALENTINES, Rich, Rare and Beautiful. Also \u2013 Comic Valentines, in endless variety.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"An<\/a>
Daily Democratic State Journal (Sacramento, California), 24 January 1856, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One thing I love about searching for newspaper advertisements for Valentine\u2019s Day cards is that unlike today, where you may find a store flyer with some images of what the cards look like, generations ago the cards\u2019 descriptions let the potential customer know why they needed to purchase their cards at a specific store. Such is the case for this 1882 newspaper ad for this bookseller:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe valentines of the present season surpass all previous years in variety, beauty and artistic designs. Mr. Judd, the bookseller, has the best selected stock of valentines, therefore his establishment is the proper place to look for your supplies in this line.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"An<\/a>
New Haven Register (New Haven, Connecticut), 11 February 1882, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If only those early newspapers had photos of those Valentine\u2019s Day cards!<\/p>\n

#2: Valentine\u2019s Day Cards Weren\u2019t Always Nice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now it would seem that our ancestors\u2019 valentines were not always so loving \u2013 and in fact the holiday was an excuse for some Victorians to tell people what they really thought about them. This 1860 newspaper article comments that \u201cindecent letters\u201d were sent to \u201crespectable young ladies\u201d in New York. The newspaper even calls for abolishing the custom of sending Valentine\u2019s Day greetings.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Columbian Register (New Haven, Connecticut), 10 March 1860, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three years later another newspaper remarked that the day of \u201ctender love tokens and marks of delicate attention\u201d is now marked by \u201crude and vulgar attempts at wit and the lowest exchange of hideous caricatures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Alexandria Gazette (Alexandria, Virginia), 13 February 1863, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, what was going on? What type of valentine was so awful that people were ready to scrap the whole day? These newspaper articles are most likely referring to \u201cvinegar valentines\u201d which were sarcastic and even mean-spirted cards that you could send to someone to make fun of them, for everything from their marital status (or lack of one), to the way they conducted business, or their downfalls, such as alcoholism. And in case you think that was something done only in the past, these cards were sold up until the 1970s. (2)<\/p>\n

#3: Valentine\u2019s Day was a Nightmare for the Post Office<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I read through historical newspapers, it becomes obvious that Valentine\u2019s Day was very popular amongst our ancestors \u2013 which meant that someone had to deliver all of those love notes. A hint at how this holiday affected mail service can be found in this small mention in an 1854 newspaper reporting that, according to the Illustrated London News<\/em>, 1,230,000 letters had recently passed through the London postal service \u2013 which surpassed even their Valentine\u2019s Day volume. While today we think of holidays like Christmas as being busy for the postal service, it might be that Valentine\u2019s Day was the big postal holiday of our ancestors\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences (Sacramento, California), 6 April 1854, page 106<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This issue of the stress Valentine\u2019s Day put on the postal system was also touched on three decades previously, as noted in this 1823 newspaper article which describes the day causing \u201cdelightful agitation\u201d in London, where additional postal employees were hired to take care of the extra mail volume.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), 25 March 1823, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Newspaper reports of the increase in letters continue on throughout the years, including a notice that London carriers delivered 504,000 cards\/letters \u2013 110,000 above normal \u2013 for Valentine\u2019s Day in 1864.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
San Francisco Bulletin (San Francisco, California), 15 April 1864, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the post office busily trying to keep up, how would the Valentine\u2019s Day procrastinator deliver his\/her greetings? Even 100 years ago, there was a quicker way to get your letter to your beloved than the post office. This 1866 newspaper advertisement offers a retailer who will not only help you procure a card and write the verse that accompanies it \u2013 they had a Valentines Express to deliver cards via eight horses, leaving every hour to make deliveries.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), 8 February 1866, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do you have your ancestors\u2019 Valentine\u2019s Day cards? What insight do they give about your ancestors\u2019 love life? What Valentine\u2019s Day greetings have you left behind for your descendants to discover?<\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n

(1) \u201cHistory of Valentine\u2019s Day,\u201d History (https:\/\/www.history.com\/topics\/valentines-day\/history-of-valentines-day-2<\/a>: accessed 12 February 2019).
\n(2) \u201cThe Rude, Cruel, and Insulting \u2018Vinegar Valentines\u2019 of the Victorian Era,\u201d Atlas Obscura (https:\/\/www.atlasobscura.com\/articles\/vinegar-valentines-victorian<\/a>: accessed 12 February 2019).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this article \u2013 to celebrate Valentine\u2019s Day \u2013 Gena Philibert-Ortega searches old newspapers to learn about our ancestors\u2019 valentines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":48069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12703],"tags":[3253,6384],"class_list":["post-48021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-valentines-day-2","tag-valentines-day-cards"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/photo-0214-2018-featured-graphic-valentine.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48021"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93819,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48021\/revisions\/93819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}