Esther Howland was a St. Valentine's Day visionary. Inspired by some fancy lace-covered English valentines that her father sold in his stationery store, the 19 year old, decided to make some of her own Valentine's Day Cards.

Using what she knew of the family's stationery business, and her own considerable artistic ability, she went to work with paste, paper, and paint and created an array of romantic sample valentines. One of her brothers was skilled in penmanship, and she persuaded him to inscribe love sentiments in the cards. Another brother was a salesman for the family buisness, and he agreed to try to get some Valentine card orders for next season's trade.

When her brother returned with an astonishing $5,000 in orders, Howland promptly set up shop in her parents' house. She hired four friends to help her and adoped a revolutionary assembly-line approach. Seated at a long table, one worker cut out small colored hearts and cupid lithographs of sentimental love subjects, the next laid them on brilliantly glazed paper backgrounds, a third assembled the layers of lace paper that framed the central design, and the fourth pasted down a printed sentimental, typically inside the card or under a flap where only the recipient could see it.

At a time when Americans who wanted to send someone romantic love tokens had to make one by hand or buy one of the few rather witless and plain commercial offerings available, Howland's sentimental love creations were a tremendous innovation. Despite their high cost, many of the cards sold for $5 to $10 each, and some truly extravagant ones, bedecked with ribbons, satin, and silk, cost up to $30, the business boomed.

Howland sold her business to a former employee in 1880 and retired to take care of her aging father. Although she herself never married, she gave wings to the romantic fancies of countless other Americans.
- Discovering America's Past ©

Pictures of beautiful romantic
vintage Valentine's Day Cards.