Happy Valentine’s Day!

To Florence, From Lois (1936)

Valentine’s Day—the holiday that encourages us to express our affections to those we love. Today there will be many cards sent and received, flowers and chocolates given and romantic dinners shared.

Exchanging valentine cards in school has been a tradition for many years. My mom still has many of the valentine cards that she received when she was a young student at the Zion Lutheran Parochial School at Schumm, Ohio.

Many of her valentines have moving parts or unfold to become three dimensional. Some have intricate cut-out designs.

It was nice that she took the time to record the year on the back of nearly every card. I scanned a few of her cards to share with you today.

She said that the students at the Schumm School handed their valentine cards to each other since there was such a small enrollment there. I imagine each had some sort of box or bag to put their valentines in.

The girl in the valentine below looks like Shirley Temple at a Punch and Judy Show.

To Florence, From Ellen S (1939)

I remember having fun at school on Valentine’s Day. We got a break from studying to give valentine cards to each other. There was usually some sort of a food treat involved, too.

I went to Willshire Elementary School and there each student brought a box in which to collect their valentine cards. Each student sat their box on their desk and we walked around and placed a valentine in each box. Our valentine boxes were usually covered with red, pink or white construction paper. Hearts of various sizes were colored or pasted all over the outside of the box. Paper heart-shaped doilies were also popular decorations.

I still remember making my valentine box.  I usually used a shoe box and I cut a large slit in the lid so the valentines could be dropped in.

To Florence, From Louis

Another popular activity was to make paper hearts from construction paper. I am sure that just about everyone remembers folding a paper in half, drawing the outline of half a heart at the fold and cutting along the outline. When you unfold the paper you have a symmetrical paper heart. We sometimes got creative and cut a smaller heart at the fold to create a heart-shaped opening in the center. We were easily entertained back then.

To Florence, From Marilyn (1944)

To Florence, From Teacher (1940)

To Florence, From R (1936)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

I hope you enjoy the cards.

 

 

 

2 comments

    • Joe on February 15, 2012 at 11:01 am
    • Reply

    Will you be my Valentine?

    1. Always! XOXOXO

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