Happy Valentines Day!! ~ A Historical Look at Valentines Day Cards From The Days Of Elementary School ~ Volume 1.0
Happy Valentines Day to all of you out there on Steemit.
Here, I present to you, on this day of romance, chocolate and Love, Valentines Day cards from way way back. I do not have any human children of my own, and since cats don't give cards to anyone on February 14th, I am not as well versed in the ways of this Holiday of Romance in the world of present day youngsters.
I assume the practice of giving out cards, or other tokens of affection in school still exists today. But since I'm not well versed in the modern realm of small-person romance, I would be interested to know what is going on in the here and now of schoolyard-based, wonderfully professed Love.
Though clueless to present practice, I do have deep, wonderful memories of this time from when I was young. These types of Valentines cards were given out on this special day, to whomever you chose to give them to, to profess your deep Love and Devotion. Let's face it, this romance stuff is often easier on a card than in person. Particularly if you are less than 10 years old, and have NO clue what you are doing in the giddy, scary, burgeoning new-world of romance.
A friend from work gave me these cards several years ago. She had a box of old Valentines she had collected from somewhere. I KNOW they weren't from her world of giving and receiving, as many are from 1935, and she wasn't even close to old enough to call them hers. However she acquired them, I enjoyed getting them, and would like to share them with you. They are a classic piece of history from some special times of (mostly) youthful romance, long ago. Enjoy.
Animals were a popular theme. The duck is really a cute little doober. Not sure if the first one with the racehorse came edged like that from the store, or Mom used the pinking sheers on it to add a special touch of 'something'.
I like the clever use of the 2 with the puppy. And I'm not sure if the baseball bounced off the heart, or Bun Rabbit just hit a foul ball and struck out with his object of hoped-for affection. Let's hope not.
Many of the cards seem to be themed on 'career'. As demonstrated above and below. I'm guessing these are from the 1960's, with the Space-Man in Love, and 'Better Living Through Chemistry' themes. Both ideas were very popular in the 1950's-1960's.
I love looking at the writing on the back of these, trying to Sherlock out what the scoop might have been on that special day. Some are obviously signed by the youthful giver, such as traffic-cop dog Todd. I'm guessing he was very young. Or nervous and VERY much in love.
Some other card signatures suggest that they were signed by an older person. Mom or Dad may have helped out this time. I thought this about Wanda the Chemist at first glance (Above). But with further perusal, I think this was actually signed by her, mastering her cursive writing. It was 'practiced' with pencil first, and goes downhill too fast to have been Mom or Dad. Then again, if asked to sign it as he ran out the door, briefcase in hand and late for work, Dad MIGHT have done a poor job too. But I'm sticking with Wanda, signing her Enduring Love on her own.
This card obviously does something, when you first receive it. There are folds and multiple layers stacked up behind. Second photo below shows the card folded out. There is an area in the middle to pencil or pen your name and feelings. Unfortunately it never got used, as it is unsigned. Or else the romantic giver just wanted to stay anonymous. I can fully understand that, from my days of youth. "I love you, but just from very afar".
A very sweet card, for its time. I really like the pointy, coy pigeon-toes of love. This one is priceless. There is even a little 'flap' to fold out at the bottom, so you can display it on your desk or other area to help point out to your skeptical friends: "TOLD you she liked me!"
These 'cards' are actually very small and fragile About an inch and a half wide by two inches across. They appear to be very old. Turn of the last century maybe? They are embossed, with quite a bit of vertical relief. I'm not so sure they were for Valentines Day. Ships, sea shells, doves, and a Courier and Ive's scene. Possibly given for other reasons of reaching out to others. Any ideas out there in SteemitLand?
Glenn signed the card above in rather exuberant fashion. Think he was a youngster. But looking at the front of the card below, he gave his Love an old fashioned shoe...? Not sure what the intent was for this one. Either someone picked it out for him, or he just liked shoes.
Reminds me of some of the more misguided things I did during these stages of romantic 'education' growing up. Oh, how to profess great, undying love? These moments of exceedingly blunt practice usually occurred on the walk home from school. Throwing slushballs at Sherry Leutter on the shared sidewalk at the end of the day, or dumping Martha Brownwin in a fall pile of leaves in front of the crabby man's house on the corner.
Maybe if I'd given them a card with an old-fashioned blue shoe on the front I would have been more successful. Then again, I'm not sure anything would have helped back then in my ever-present and clueless state of romance, and it's clumsy-at-best expression toward the focus of my intentions. I feel for the young girls of the world. It DOES get better, as we boys grow older, more brave, and replace snowballs and leaf piles with flowers, chocolates, and special Valentines Day Cards.
Thanks so much for reading, and hope you have a marvelous Valentines Day today.
Stay tuned, there may be more Valentines Day cards coming out tomorrow as well.
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Random Musings-DG Velveteen-Updated//Random Musings-Deep Green Velveteen//Big Time Writing & HomeRepair//Merry Ne'kid Confectionary Christmas//My Career-French Impressionist Painter//True Crime @ The MGM//MicroAward - 33 1/3 Award for Followers//Cats Really Do Have It Made//Ottoman Mars-Big Game Hunters From Mars Killed Our Dinosaurs -Part: 2//The Department Of OMG-Ottoman Mars -Part: 1//A Letter From The Cat//To Be A Bee At The End Of "To Be"//Happy Curmudgeon Halloween
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On Comfort//"Moonrise" Over Solace, Oregon//Shoe Shots No. 1//It'sa Dog's Life-Work
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One Minute Poem-Ode To The First of November//
Oh To Be A Cat Today
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That was such a nice remembrance to read. Valentine's Day was special in grade school. Our class would make a Wishing Well or a Post Office Box out of big cardboard boxes, construction paper, and crepe paper. Every kid would put all their valentines in there in the days leading up to the 14th. Then, on the big day, we would play Post Office and deliver the envelopes to each kid. There were usually cupcakes and milk or juice, too, and some games. I always had a hard time picking out which card to give to which person. Some of the cards in the "schoolkid package" that my Mom let me pick out were invariably "stupid", so who would I give those to? That was the hard part. I usually gave one of those to my teacher, lol.
And I'm sure your teacher loved you dearly for it ( : Glad you enjoyed the post, and that it brought back such fond memories. The day of love has turned into a day of remembrance as well. I've seen quite a bit of it on here today. And thanks for the great comment, and memories it brought back to me as well. Classic days of youth. Happy Valentines Day.
Happy Valentine's Day. Here's to happy memories for everyone today!
Bravo!!! Excellent post, what good memories those beautiful pictures dear friend @ddschteinn thank you very much for sharing
happy Valentines Day
Thanks so much my friend. Glad you enjoyed it. It was fun to make. This is quite a day for memories as well.
I have more cards...hope to put out tomorrow, if I can get it done ( : Happy Valentines day to you too.
What awesome memories. Cards are definitely not like that anymore
Thanks so much for the reply. Glad you enjoyed it. They are a far cry from the singing cards, the one's you can record your own voice on, or other high tech things of today. Some of these had little cut-outs on grommets to move the paper parts back and forth with...so very high tech at the time. Thanks for the look.
Cool post looking at all those retro cards!!!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for looking and commenting, I appreciate it. Have a nice rest of Valentines day.