Under The White Hot Spot

This feature has been going strong since 2001, so we decided to give it a face lift.  While we’ll still share some of today’s greeting cards on this page, we also wanted to give a nod to our industry’s past.   As such, we’ll feature some vintage greeting cards, let you see them and judge for yourself how cards have changed over the decades. 

These are fascinating cards because we’ve found them in all sorts of places—from lawn sales to estate sales, antique shops, old book stores, stuck in old books we’ve purchased.  Some are from our own personal history—“keeper cards” we just couldn’t throw out.  Since most of these were greeting cards which were sent to others, you’ll see faded ink, cursive lettering, childish scrawls as part of the inside of the card.  We’ll do our best to describe them to you in all their glory and containing a visual and written history of how we, as individuals and as a society, communicated with one another. 

AND, if you’d like to share some cards of your own, feel free to send them along.  We suggest putting two thin squares of cardboard on either side to protect it.  If you want it back, be sure to send a large enough envelope with sufficient postage for us to return the card.  Above all, if you can, supply us with a little history of the card—who it was sent to and by whom—and when, we’d love to hear about it.  Give us your name, city and state and an email address where we can contact you.  We won’t publish your email address, only your name and location—and not even that, if you request it.

Please, no more than three cards at a time—and we can’t promise what we’ll use and we can assume no responsibility for their return.  We’ll take great care with your cards, but things do occasionally go astray.

Also, please take note:

·        No x-rated verses or artwork

·        Send sufficient return postage in a large envelope for return of cards

·        Send your contact information in case of questions

·        Don’t send anything you would be heartbroken to lose; submissions can  and do get lost.

Send cards to Sandra Miller-Louden, P.O. Box 485, Grantsville, MD 21536.

Before you peek-a-boo at the inside below, stop!  What rhymes with “order?”  Pick a few good words, read on and then (and only then!) check out the inside verse.

This 5x6” card is an early example of a die-cut; primitive by today’s more intricate standards, but still charming in its own way.  The gabled roof slants upward on the upper right hand margin and there’s a slight indentation for the chimney, upper left.  The Tag Line outside—Best Wishes To The Happy Family—plus the bird’s eye view (If the bird is sitting on the windowsill) of Mom, Dad and Baby tells us right away that indeed, “Congratulations are in order.”

Figured out yet what the inside line will be?  Scroll down, if you haven’t already—“Just heard of the arrival of a brand new Boarder!”  We love the fact that the verse is just as fresh and timely today as it was 50+ years ago.  Once again, the scan doesn’t do the inside justice.  Here we’re treated to not only a die-cut stork holding a baby in a blanket that actually swings as if it’s airborne, but the stork pops up  in our face as it prepares to drop baby down the chimney into the waiting arms of mom and dad.

Opening the inside doubles the closed outside width – 10”.  But our friendly stork’s wing span adds an additional 2.5” to the length—this is one major stork.  The wings fold down and check out the inside card—you can see the perforation down the center of the bird’s head and beak.  All this makes for a perfect inside fold that never gives itself away simply by looking at the outside.

Finally, notice the gender of the baby isn’t noted.  The clever artwork outside gives us an equal mix of blue and pink (although we admit we’ve never seen a pink roof before) and inside, although the baby’s blanket is pink, our “Brand new Boarder’s” eyes are blue and the haircut is a distinctively male style.

So, although we’re not sure if Loretta (her name’s on the envelope) had a girl or a boy way back when, we do know card companies, even today, prefer some verses to be as generic—therefore as wide-reaching—as possible.