Happy Valentine's Day! A Dozen Antique/Vintage Greeting Cards from Sarah's Scrapbooks

I'm delighted to share some of the Valentine's Day cards Sarah Eva Howe pasted into her scrapbooks. None of them are dated, but I've assigned time frames based on the clippings, photos, and other items on the surrounding pages. The dates are pure speculation, and I welcome your thoughts on when these cards were published.

While I would like to see the other side of these charming valentines – to see who sent and received them and to read any handwritten messages – I dare not risk destroying the cards by trying to separate them from the crumbling scrapbook pages. Some of the cards are crumbling, too.

1880s – 1890s

1900s-1915

 

1916-1920s 

Sarah married in 1905. By 1920 she had four living children: Robert King Salyers (1907), James Richard Salyers (1910), Mary Alice Salyers (James Richard's twin, 1910), and David Hillis Salyers II (1915). I speculate that all but the first of these cards belonged to those children. Several of the cards were in a scrapbook Sarah compiled for her youngest son.

The first card has an Irish look to me, maybe a nod to the Howe family's strong links to Ireland. Her grandparents John Howe and Sarah Brown Howe immigrated to the U.S. in 1847.

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing these 12 vintage cards. Happy Valentine's Day!