PAPER HOLIDAYS: CHRISTMAS CARDS IN PORT HOPE
According to George Buday, in The History of the Christmas Card (1954),
“It may be argued that since Christmas cards are ephemeral their curriculum and interest is necessarily a slight one. Nowadays the lifetime of the Christmas card is that short period of conspicuous display from its arrival just before Christmas to Twelfth Night, when, according to tradition, all Christmas cards and other festive decorations are cleared away.” (p. 1-2)
Despite this often wide-spread opinion, Christmas cards hold special memories and sentiments for the sender and receiver, and can be information-filled archival documents.
For the holiday season this year, relax and take a trip through some of the Christmas cards in the Port Hope Archives collection!
“It may be argued that since Christmas cards are ephemeral their curriculum and interest is necessarily a slight one. Nowadays the lifetime of the Christmas card is that short period of conspicuous display from its arrival just before Christmas to Twelfth Night, when, according to tradition, all Christmas cards and other festive decorations are cleared away.” (p. 1-2)
Despite this often wide-spread opinion, Christmas cards hold special memories and sentiments for the sender and receiver, and can be information-filled archival documents.
For the holiday season this year, relax and take a trip through some of the Christmas cards in the Port Hope Archives collection!
Christmas Card Howard Snelgrove, ca. 1935
PHA 2008.11.1.1
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"To Dear Little Maudie, From Her Auntie Caroline" PHA 997.16.1.1
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A VICTORIAN HOLIDAY
“A Merry Christmas, uncle” cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge’s nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.
“Bah!” said Scrooge, “Humbug!”
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, along with Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, The Night Before Christmas, is touted as being the first publication to promote modern Christmas ideologies. In fact, prior to such efforts, Christmas is often believed to have been on the down-swing. Scrooge could be seen as a metaphor for lost Christmas spirit in all Victorians.
With this “reinvention” of the Christmas spirit came three of the most iconic pieces of the modern Christmas ‘puzzle’ : Santa Claus (1863), the Christmas Tree (1840s), and the Christmas card (1843).
“Bah!” said Scrooge, “Humbug!”
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, along with Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, The Night Before Christmas, is touted as being the first publication to promote modern Christmas ideologies. In fact, prior to such efforts, Christmas is often believed to have been on the down-swing. Scrooge could be seen as a metaphor for lost Christmas spirit in all Victorians.
With this “reinvention” of the Christmas spirit came three of the most iconic pieces of the modern Christmas ‘puzzle’ : Santa Claus (1863), the Christmas Tree (1840s), and the Christmas card (1843).
A Victorian Home (Ballintruan, Home of Charles Stuart, Port Hope) decorated for the holidays with a Christmas tree; a tradition of German descent that came to England with the marriage of Queen Victoria & Albert in the 1840s. PHA 2004.23.3.1675
EARLY HOLIDAY CARDS
The origin of the first Christmas card was the subject of much debate, until it was finally decided that the feat belonged to John Calcott Horsley, an artist commissioned by Sir Henry Cole to create a mail-able holiday card, in London, England (1843).
According to George Buday in The History of the Christmas Card (1954), this first Christmas card (below):
“was printed from a lithograph stone on a single stiff cardboard of 5 1/8 by 3 1/4 inches. The ink was probably dark sepia, now mellowed a little, so that the general impression is not unlike an etching… The main panel shows a homely family party in progress, including three generations, in true Victorian fashion.” (p. 10)
According to George Buday in The History of the Christmas Card (1954), this first Christmas card (below):
“was printed from a lithograph stone on a single stiff cardboard of 5 1/8 by 3 1/4 inches. The ink was probably dark sepia, now mellowed a little, so that the general impression is not unlike an etching… The main panel shows a homely family party in progress, including three generations, in true Victorian fashion.” (p. 10)
One of the around 1000 copies of the original Christmas card published at Summerly’s Home Treasury Office, 1843. (www.postalheritage.org.uk)
Elmo Watt, Port Hope Christmas Card, 1914. PHA 2003.56.1.1
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Elmo Watt, 1915 PHA 2010.11.1.3592
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Canadian Northern Station, Christmas Card, ca. 1921 PHA 997.16.2.1289
Christmas Card from Billy & Elyse Ralston, c1919 (PHA# 2015-25-40)
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WORLD WAR II AND BEYOND
During both World Wars, “people often had to spend Christmas in circumstances which were in sharp contrast to all that was associated with this season in their memories of the past.” (Buday, George. The History of the Christmas Card. Spring Books, 1954).
The fact that people had to cling to some form of normality, especially during the holiday season, kept the Christmas card business up and running even beyond the war years.
The fact that people had to cling to some form of normality, especially during the holiday season, kept the Christmas card business up and running even beyond the war years.
Christmas Card, Port Hope High School, ca. 1940. PHA 2008.11.1.2
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“Winter snows may come and go,
And yule-tide joys depart,
But may there be an afterglow,
Of sunshine in your heart.”
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Christmas Card, St. Mark’s Anglican Church, 1946. PHA 2006.10.3.2
Modern Christmas cards retain their early child-like innocence while having a more 21st century ‘vibe.’ E-cards (electronic cards with motion and sounds that are e-mailed to recipients) eliminate the need for advanced planning; photo manipulation software allows for easy creation of personalized cards.
However, whichever direction Christmas cards are going, they still possess an important message, one which Ebenezer Scrooge learned at the end of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843):
“ever afterwards… it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.”
However, whichever direction Christmas cards are going, they still possess an important message, one which Ebenezer Scrooge learned at the end of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843):
“ever afterwards… it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.”
