Cute boy
Jumping forward to the 1950s, when these photo Christmas cards really became popular, we see Bobby posed to look up into the face of the future. His parents were Evelyn and Walter.
Cute boy
Jumping forward to the 1950s, when these photo Christmas cards really became popular, we see Bobby posed to look up into the face of the future. His parents were Evelyn and Walter.
Golden bells
This is an interesting collection of items. The folded vellum card looks like a book and features golden bells and embossed holly detail. The items below were all folded into the card and paperclipped together.
Sweet greeting
The greeting reads:
Christmas would / always be welcome / if only because it / gives us a chance / to greet again, good / friends with whom, / somehow, we’ve gotten / out of touch
The inserts consist of three landscapes and a newspaper clipping of a poem.
Newspaper clipping
From the Just Folks column by Edgar A. Guest. Guest was a well known poet popular in America for more than 40 years. His first published poem appeared in the Detroit Free Press in 1898. He was featured as a syndicated column in 300 or so newspapers, had a radio program and even a television series in the early 1950s. A collection of his works published in 1917 was titled Just Folks, and over his career he wrote some 11,000 poems.
The Gardener’s Task
In March I cut the roses back
Which took me years to learn;
I’d not in me the will to be
So ruthless and so stern;
And loving all the growing canes
I left them standing tall.
Unwise was I, for June went by
With scarce a rose at all.
I loved not wisely, but too well.
On many a stem I smiled.
To pruning loath I watched the growth
Of thorny shoots and wild.
I thought it tenderness to let
The seven-leafed branches stay
And didn’t know when wild stalks grow
They must be cut away.
Last March I cut the roses back
And bade them start anew.
With knife severe I stripped them clear
Of every growth untrue.
Now every branch a promise bears
Of roses soon to be,
And strives to tell in buds that swell
Its gratitude to me.
Copyright 1908
Winter scene
Winter tree
None of the landscapes have any notes or messages written on them. Based on the one forest scene having a copyright date in 1908, I’m guessing these are items someone had and they reminded them of home. The illustrations and poem may have been sent with the card, or intended to be mailed with the card, but then never mailed. We can never know, but the paperclips were very rusty, so these things have been together for a long, long time.
A bowl of poinsettias
This little card is folded in half and tied with a red silk ribbon, to the left. The border is faded, but still visible as cheerful red.The illustration is simple, probably continuing in the arts and crafts influenced mode we have seen so much of on previous posts. The bowl on the table has poinsettia blooms, candles are lit, and holly sprigs abound. A simple “Merry Christmas” hails the recipient.
Inside sentiment
Inside the card, we have more text. It reads:
A Christmas Wish For Your Home
May the things that make for gladness / And the things that make for cheer / Bless your home in great abundance / When the Christmas-tide is here
Is the wis of your friends Mr. & Mrs. Wallace Miller and Family
There is no publisher information or printing company on the card, only a series number, which is series 1139, and also these were made in the USA.
Pretty poinsettia greeting
This particular card was made by the J. Raymond Howe Company of Chicago. As previously revealed, this was a prolific publisher of greeting cards, especially Christmas cards. They were in business between 1904-1914 or 16. I have found references to both end dates in multiple locations, so I’m going to use the outside timeframe.
An interesting note about the company. An artist and writer wrote to the Writer’s Association in 1918 asking if he had any sort of case against J. Raymond Howe Company. He explained that he had come up with a Christmas sentiment, had it printed, and then mailed to friends, family and business associates. He found a few years later that the J. Raymond Howe Company had been using his text, at times with his name attached to it, and sometimes with the illustration. However, the cards published by Howe carried a copyright. Obviously the artist was upset to see his work claimed by someone else, but according to the Writer’s Association, he did not have a case. They opined that by sending the cards without a copyright on them, he had given his work to the public, and therefore it could be used by anyone. I suspect legal opinions and precedent has changed in the last 100 years, as this sounds like opportunistic plagiarism to me!
Regardless, this card carries a kind sentiment:
All there is to Christmas is the love expressed, so – may it be Christmas to you always!
Signed on the back:
Loving thoughts from the Dybdals to all of you.
Dybdal is a Norwegian name and there are a lot of Dybdals in the Minnesota, Dakotas, Nebraska areas.
Lantern, holly & poinsettia
This particular card is about 3 x 5, and has an embossed center as well as embossed image featuring a lantern, holly and poinsettia. The greeting reads:
Greetings and best wishes for / a merry Christmas / and a happy New Year
It was signed by Gonzalo Magaña, 1920.
All month long I am featuring vintage and antique Christmas cards. To see previous posts, click on the category Christmas Cards. I hope you are enjoying them!
Who Were They? 