CMMM Object of the Month: VALENTINE’S DAY CARD
February: a month of cold winds and frosty tundra across the Bering Strait but also a terrific month for showing your appreciation for loved ones, especially on that sweetest day of the year, February 14. Valentine’s Day has a long and storied history that extends all the way back to the Roman Empire. Celebrations may have changed over the years but love has always been a theme.
The 14th century English squire Geoffrey Chaucer wrote one of the earliest Valentine-themed poems titled “The Parliament of Fowls,” a special day when birds gather to choose their mates. One of the earliest known “valentines” was a few somber lines in a poem written in 1415 by 21-year-old Charles, Duke of Orléans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Samuel Pepys in 1615 writes of a valentine card given to his wife from “Little Will Mercer” who “brought her name writ upon blue paper in gold letters, done by himself, very pretty—and we were both well pleased with it.” He then humorously adds, “But I am also my wife’s Valentine and it will cost me 5 pounds.”
Commercially printed cards became popular during the mid-1800s when they began to look more like the cards you can purchase today. One Valentine card from 1945 at the Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum features a bouquet of flowers surrounded by a lacy heart that is embellished with glitter and pink silk ribbon. Inside the paper card is printed, “Although St. Valentine’s dates back into the ancient past, the theme the season holds is one that will forever last. It stands for memories of those who are so fine and true; and that is why it stands today for heart-warm thoughts of you.” The card is signed to “Oatha and Una, From Mother and Dad.” “Una” refers to Una Sitton Lucky who graduated from Nome High School in 1923. She was the only graduate that year and the first high school graduate in Nome since 1916. Una had a romantic side and enjoyed music and playing the piano in Nome. Within her personal papers, is a handwritten version of the poem “For-Get-Me-Not” by Charles Hopkins with a chorus that reads, “Promise never to forget me, Life without thee is but pain, Linger yet where first I met thee, Stay, to never roam again.”