A Christmas card from the History Hound

With the arrival of Christmas next week, let’s explore the history of the Christmas card.  

The modern custom of sending Christmas cards in Canada can be traced back to the United Kingdom and a man named Sir Henry Cole way back in 1843. He was a senior civil servant who had been instrumental in establishing the Public Record Office (now called the British Post Office). He was apparently looking for new ways to make the post office of greater use for the majority of the population.

Sir Henry came up with the idea of creating the ‘Christmas Card’ with his friend, John Horsley, who was a graphic artist. They designed the first card and sold them for about 1 shilling each, but in those days, that was quite a sum of money. 

The card consisted of three panels. The outer two panels showed people caring for the poor and the centre panel showed a family having a large Christmas dinner. Some people didn't approve of the card because it showed a child being given a glass of wine. 

Approximately 1,000 were initially printed and sold. If one was to find an example today, it would cost thousands of dollars (as they are very rare). The original cards were advertised with the slogan: "Just published, a Christmas Congratulations Card; or picture emblematical of old English festivity to perpetuate kind recollections between dear friends".  The first cards usually had pictures of the Nativity scene on them. 

The new Christmas card coincided with the appearance with the first national postal service that ordinary people could use, started in 1840 when the first Penny Post public postal deliveries began. Sir Cole helped introduce the Penny Post in the U.K. and Sir William Mulock here in Canada. 

Before that, only the very rich could afford to send anything in the post. The new Post Office was able to offer a penny stamp because railways were being built and expanded across the country. Rail could carry much more post than the old horse and carriage.  Also, trains could go a lot faster. 

Cards became even more popular in the U.K. when they could be posted in an unsealed envelope for one halfpenny — half the price of an ordinary letter.  This practice has sadly disappeared.

As printing methods improved, Christmas cards became much more popular and were produced in large numbers starting from about 1860. In 1870, the cost of sending a postcard, including Christmas cards, dropped to half a penny. This meant even more people were able to send cards. I can remember my Mom telling me that receiving a ’card from home’, meaning England, was a joy reserved for the holiday season.

By the early 1900s, the custom had spread all over Europe and had become especially popular in Germany.  The custom had also made its way to Canada and the United States in quick order.

Christmas cards appeared in the U.S. in the late 1840s but were very expensive and few people could afford them. It 1875, Louis Prang, a printer originally from Germany but who had also worked on early cards in the U.K., started mass producing cards so more people could afford them. 

Prang's first cards featured flowers, plants and children. In 1915, John C. Hall and two of his brothers created Hallmark Cards, which is still one of the biggest card makers today.

The first known personalized Christmas card was sent in 1891 by Annie Oakley, the famous sharpshooter and star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. She was in Glasgow, Scotland for Christmas 1891 and sent cards back to her friends and family in the U.S. featuring a photo of her on it. As she was in Scotland, she's wearing tartan! Annie reportedly designed the cards herself.

In the 1910s and 1920s, homemade cards became popular. They were often unusual shapes and were decorated with foil and ribbon. These were usually too delicate to send through the post and were given by hand.

The greeting cards we exchanged locally at Christmas or at New Year’s and that are so much a part of our local holiday traditions also have their origins in England. The custom had quickly developed in Europe, especially in Germany, because of a brand-new printing process perfected by Aloys Senefelder in 1796. Lithography, as the technique was called, could be used to reproduce large numbers of drawings or texts first drawn on a finely textured stone.

Leaflets expressing good wishes had appeared in Europe as early as the beginning of the 15th century and they are really the ancestors of our greeting cards. These were followed in the 18th century by printed versions that merchants sent customers in Canada and the U.S.
In Canada, the production of cards began between 1870 and 1880 and they were simple adaptations of the artworks of Krieghoff, Bartlett, Massicotte and Henri Julien, depicting winter activity or sports scenes. Until the end of the First World War, however, most of the cards sold in Canada came from the U.K. or U.S.
After 1880, the Christmas card gradually came to replace the New Year’s card and really gathered speed with the large-scale marketing efforts that took place. Department stores even began to sell greeting card assortments through their catalogues.
The shift to Christmas cards had not taken place in France where cards are almost always sent to convey New Year’s greetings. This French tradition was continued in Quebec.
Nowadays, our Christmas cards have a huge variety of pictures: jokes, winter scenes, Santa Claus or romantic scenes of life in past times. I can remember the first time I received a card with an actual photo of the sender and their family.  

Most Newmarket businesses such as the Davis Tannery, Cane Wood Foundry and Office Specialty sent customized cards to employees, suppliers, customers and other businesses. If you were rich or prominent, you likely sent customized cards, too.

Today, local charities often sell Christmas cards as a way to raise money. Charities also make money from seals or stickers used to seal the card envelopes. This custom was apparently started in Denmark in the early 1900s by a postal worker who thought it would be a good way for charities to raise money, as well as making the cards more decorative. It was a great success: more than four million were sold in the first year. Soon Sweden and Norway adopted the custom and then it spread all over Europe and North America.

Current technology has brought the advent of the e-card, which seems to be the most prevalent type I receive these days. They are often animated and may even provide a seasonal song. Nothing, however, can replace the handmade cards of yore with the personal messages and the handwritten signature.  Even when those personal messages consisted of yearly updates on people’s successes and family gossip.

With Christmas around the corner, I want to wish all our readers a most joyous Christmas and New Year.  Each of us holds a collection of very special Christmas memories deep within our hearts. Please let this article be my Christmas card to all of you.

Sources: The History of Christmas Cards from Virtual Museum Canada; Christmas: Social Customs in France and Canada from Virtual Museum Canada; Why we send Christmas Cards, Toronto Star.

************************

NewmarketToday.ca brings you this weekly feature about our town's history in partnership with Richard MacLeod, the History Hound, a local historian for more than 40 years. He conducts heritage lectures and walking tours of local interest, as well as leads local oral history interviews. You can contact the History Hound at [email protected].