Wisconsin Historical Images from the Wisconsin Historical Society
Valentine's Day Bonus 2012

FEATURED GALLERY
| Highlights from over three million images in our holdings


Valentine's Day Greeting Cards
"To My Valentine" embossed chromolithograph, printed in Germany, 1910 WHI 63801

Valentine's Day Greeting Cards

 

This collection of 99 Valentine's Day greeting cards provides a glimpse into the way Americans have shared their feelings of love and affection every February 14th from 1840 through 1980.

Valentine Designs for Everyone

 

The figures in the Valentine's Day cards gallery include everything from men, women, boys and girls to Cupid and cherubs. One card has two masked, gun-toting Cupids robbing a woman. Many cards feature animals: bears, dogs, cats, donkeys, horses, birds and swans. Of course, hearts, flowers, ribbons and butterflies appear in almost all of the Valentines. A few cards have fruit or vegetable themes: beets, peaches and plums. Some cards add movement to their appeal, having hinged parts fastened with eyelets. One card has a stick of "Black Jack Gum" still attached. Several have multiple parts held together with cords, and others have many layers to produce a three-dimensional look. A selection of inexpensive children's bulk Valentines from several decades take the viewer back to elementary school days. Also of interest are the parts of a kit used to create custom Valentines by the purchaser.

 

The Origins of St. Valentine's Day

 

The exact beginning of St. Valentine's Day is in dispute, but the most popular story tells of a Roman priest, Valentine of Rome, who defied the order of Roman Emperor Claudius II to stop performing marriage ceremonies for young men whom he wished to recruit into the army. He believed that married men did not make good soldiers. He had Valentine arrested and incarcerated. While in prison, Valentine became friends with the blind daughter of his jailer. Before his execution in A.D. 269, he healed her blindness and wrote her a note, which he signed "from your Valentine."

 

Pope Gelasius established St. Valentine's Day in A.D. 500 to replace Lupercalia, a pagan fertility rite celebrated in Rome. Pope Paul VI removed it from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969, but still permitted the religious observance.

 

The first association of Valentine's Day with romantic love was in a 1382 poem by Geoffrey Chaucer to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. In A.D. 1415 the Duke of Orleans wrote a poem to his wife while being held in the Tower of London. This is the oldest known Valentine in existence today. The popular celebration of Valentine's Day began in the 17th century in Great Britain. By the middle of the 18th century, people began exchanging small tokens and notes. By 1800, printed cards began to replace written letters.

 

    


BROWSE THE COLLECTIONS | View nearly 60,000 digitized visual materials in our online database


American History Through Christmas Cards    Christmas Cards 
    Viewing American History



Americans have been exchanging holiday cards for more than 150 years, and thousands of them have made their way into the Society's collections as correspondence. View this gallery of more than 200 historic Christmas cards.

View the Gallery >>  

Wisconsin Women

  Wisconsin Women

 Often Unheralded, Always Exceptional 

 

 

Selected images of exceptional women, as well as those who are often unheralded as they go about the tasks of daily life.

View the Gallery >>

This monthly email newsletter from Wisconsin Historical Images features gallery exhibits from the Wisconsin Historical Society's visual materials collections.
Wisconsin Historical Society
816 State Street
Madison, WI 53706

Link to Society's website at wisconsinhistory.org

Collecting, Preserving and Sharing Stories Since 1846
 
Did you know?

Nearly 60,000 historical photographs are available for purchase online as high-quality archival pigment prints or digital files.



Browse dozens of topical galleries or search for specific people, places, topics or events. Proceeds  benefit the Society's image collections.



View more information about buying images online or email Lisa Marine.





Connect with us


Follow us on Twitter Find us on Facebook Find us on Flickr.