ephemera

POST WWII GREETING CARDS
by Pamela Apkarian-Russell
   How important is age? I am constantly being told by those who should know better that certain items aren’t very old and are worthless. Paper collectors, ephemerists, and those that deal in, specialize in or preserve paper items, can be so exclusive that they are blinded by some of the wonderful items that have been made since the Second World War. If the graphics, and the execution of an item are exceptionally well done, why would anyone turn up their noses at the item? Modern illustrated books are avidly collected by those that collect earlier illustrators such as Rackham, Pyle, Greenaway, Parrish, and all the many other illustrators who have been delighting children and adults for generations.
   Having recently placed a copy of “Diary of a Victorian Mouse” by Angel Dominguez on my fantasy shelf at home it was easy for me to compare this book done in 1991 with the works of other illustrators of earlier generations. If the bibliophile has no problem with this, why is it that those that collect cards make faces at items that are not a century old or at least seventy-five years old? Are we missing out on preserving and enjoying some fun and even some important art? Certainly, owning a Mansel Valentine or one by Esther Howland made with handmade lace-cut paper is lovely, but everyone can’t afford them or procure them. Nostalgia is what one remembers from one’s own past and many will remember the “made in the USA” valentines that were given and sent when one was in grade school. Cute they might be, and the sentiments may be too sweet but they are a style that represents an era, a generation, when “nice” was in and crude, vulgar, blatant, and stupid, were not part of most peoples’ lifestyles.
   Certainly this little card with its bookish cat is not printed on the quality stock on which one would expect a cat by Arthur Thiele, but he was of another generation. The post-war generation was being protected from the horrors of war, the depression, and anything else that could harm them. Each decade has something different to say and the 40s and 50s showed graphics that were idyllic - and are forgotten by too many.
   Norcross was one of the leading greeting card manufacturers of its day. Silly by today’s standards, only because they are not rude and mean, people could send, not just children but adults, cards that were sweet -- and not be thought unsophisticated. If sophisticated means sending cards that are insulting then we have lost something very important in our society.
   During the 40s-60s it was fashionable to look back to the good old days and enjoy the warmth of holidays, when there were no football games blasting away. The family, including the cat, spent quality time together, chatted, played games, or gathered around the piano to sing songs and interact. Those were the good old days when the berries on the mistletoe were real, not plastic, and children had too much sense to eat things that were hanging from the ceiling, or had fallen on the floor. It is only recently, when society has deemed us all so incompetent, and unintelligent that we must be protected from ourselves and those who enjoy hiring lawyers at the drop of a hat, that it has become fashionable for portions of our society to vie for the title of dumb, dumber, dumbest, which is inane. This Gibson card incidentally not only wished a Happy Holiday but also announced a marriage. How many cards did you receive this year with personal messages in them?
    In 1949, 100 years after it was incorporated and 97 years after it was built, the Rector Lawrence of St. Paul’s Church, and his wife, sent a hand done Christmas card with a lovely black and white wood cut and a poem by Kingsley printed on the inside. Simple and beautiful, made in Conn. with no publisher’s name just the artist’s FCL. (This could have been one of the Lawrence’s).
   Tasha Tudor produced a charming tree decorating picture for the Irene Dash Greeting Card Company. How many of you have heard of this American Company? Certainly I had never heard of them. Tasha Tudor is collected for her books, especially the miniatures, so why would anyone discard a card illustrated by her? If her books are treasures why not her cards?
   Hand made cards, those with satin on them, engraved, lithographed, with attachments, gold foil, die cut, so many items besides the art work and that which was being depicted, are very important in ascertaining the value of an item. Only a few years ago, the wonderful art deco cards with their bright, wonderfully garish colors, were forgotten and ignored. They are now being looked at favorably.
   The customhouse in Boston was an engraved card by J. Archer, drawn by C.H. Billings and sent by the Merchants National Bank of Boston. The detail work is incredible. What type of a card did you receive from your bank?
   It is amazing that for a short while cards were actually made in the USA and many of them were of such quality and beauty that people preserved them. How many today will keep and cherish cards like “Hey Dummy, it’s your birthday, go stick your head in a keg of beer ”? If the cards I am speaking of have no value, then the latter, even in a thousand years time, will have no value. People don’t go out and buy a new shirt or blouse because it is so ugly or badly made; why then items made of paper? Perhaps, the “good old days” were when people made things in America, and people used things made in America, and people made their living making beautiful things in America.
   There are still independent people producing great paper items here, but you have to go looking for them. Certainly, major corporations seldom care but the crafts people are still alive and well, and the quality they produce will survive long after those items, mass produced in far away lands, via slave labor, are tossed away. Quality, regardless of what country it is produced in, will always outlive its decade. Americana has been made scarce by corporations. Just as in handbound books, or anything made by a skilled hand or a talent-laden soul, there will be value in the items and will be worth keeping.
   For those who disagree about age not being all-important, please spend a few moments looking at the art and execution of the past fifty years and you will see, if you look, small vignettes of beauty, which are still plentiful and inexpensive. If nothing else, you will see some of the social history of an era, an era we are living in and have lived in. For those of you who already carefully hoard away all these treasures, remember to place them in archival plastic, they deserve it.