Esther Howland, an 1847 Mount Holyoke alumna, is credited with popularizing the Valentine’s Day card. Her company, the New England Valentine’s Company, was founded about 50 years before the Hallmark Company, the company most people think of when they think of holiday cards. But it is even a few more years than that as she was making and selling the cards before she officially started the company.
Howland’s father owned a book and stationery shop in Worcester, Massachusetts. At the age of 19, after receiving an English Valentine card, she made some samples of similar cards. Her father, through his store connections, ordered her supplies. Howland’s brother, a salesman for the shop, took them along with him on his visits. Howland had hoped for $200 worth of orders. When her brother returned to Worcester, he had $5,000 worth of orders. Howland enlisted her friends and an assembly line was set up. In 1879, the New England Valentine Company was founded and it relocated to a rented building. While she was not the first to make Valentine’s Day cards in America, her cards were unique.
An Esther Howland card from the collection of Donna Albino.
As my Mount Holyoke College alumna daughter reminded me, in the weeks surrounding Valentine’s Day, Mount Holyoke College honors her contribution to this holiday by creating a display with some of her cards that are in the archives. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/archives/exhibits/valentines
If you’re interested in Mount Holyoke College ephemera, visit the collection of Donna Albino at http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~dalbino
© Fran Becque www.fraternityhistory.com All rights reserved.
