How Have Christmas Cards Changed Over the Years?

In 1875, Louis Prang introduced the first commercial printing of Christmas cards in the United States, and his success was helped along with a newly improved postal system. By 1881, his presses put out almost five million cards, and though he wasn’t the only one creating and distributing, his cards were more expensive than most on the market. Greeting cards had, in general, become famously popular and the industry thrived.

By the early 1900s, Americans were enthralled with the idea of the “penny postcard,” and utilized it for holiday greetings, replacing the overall popularity of the folded card, if only for awhile. The country’s population was expanding westward and the postcard—holidays and year-round—afforded a simple and economical way for people to stay in touch.

World War I brought yet more changes. Initially banned by the government “for security reasons” and to conserve paper, it was eventually decided that sending greetings were a good way to raise the spirits of not only the troops but the country at large. They made provisions to ration paper needed for the singular purpose of creating cards. Still, many considered them a luxury at Christmas, and did without.

In the 1920s, paper greetings no longer had the quality and newness attributed to their earlier cousins. They were being massed produced, the paper used was less attractive and thinner, and fine artwork gave way to less elaborate designs. Slowly, the fashion aspects of the Victorian era brought about a renewed interest, and lined envelopes, with the linings in different colors, shades, and designs debuted as an accompaniment to the card.

It was during this time when “Hallmark” started to find its place in the annals of card history. Begun as Hall Brothers, a company of 120 employees working in four different buildings, by 1925, their mark showed up occasionally as Hallmark. By 1927, that was the name they used on the back of their cards.

“Flats,” single-sided cards, came about in the late 1920s and were in vogue into the mid-to-late 1930s. It was a relatively short-lived fad and by the late 1930s, the Christmas card we see today slowly began to take shape as the traditionally-sent greeting: folded, with a holiday design and short comment on the front, and on the inside, a hearty message of hope and the best of the season. They were usually made of heavy stock, folded in half, or thinner paper or parchment folded four times. As time went on, the thinner, four-fold slowly disappeared from general use.

By 1936, the Sapirstein Card Company owned a manufacturing plant and was putting out a good number of the cards sent out each year. This company became American Greetings.

The 1940s brought about World War II and again, country loyalty overcame frivolous or sentimental soft greetings of earlier years. Many cards carried a theme of support for the troops, and it was considered patriotic to send out Christmas cards showing evidence of the sender’s backing of American ideals in the war being fought. In 1944, Hallmark started using the slogan, “When you care enough to send the very best.”

A new type of mobility represented the American people in the 1950s, and with it came a smaller world. People moved from place to place and helping to keep track of family and friends, the greeting card industry grew in mass popularity. People needed to shirk the darker days just behind them, and they went for brighter—in image and word—card styles. Creativity flourished, and all sorts of card shapes, sizes, and utilizations came into vogue.

The 1960s lived for peace and love. The 1970s saw various series images in play, and it was during this time that charities discovered the benefit of greeting card revenues shared between company profit and community outreach. Holiday still-lifes on the front of cards were an often-sent design.

The licensing of popular culture characters, now so popular and utilized in many ways by the media, didn’t escape the greeting card industry then and at Christmas, any and all characters well-liked by the general population started showing up on cards in the 1980s. In 1982, Carlton began using North America’s first seven-color, sheet-fed press. This innovated the industry.

Humor and downright silliness came on the scene big-time in the 1990s, and continues to be popular today. We’ve made it to a point where we utilize all the historical aspects in Christmas card presentation and delivery, while continuing to revolutionize in every aspect—design, manufacture, mass marketing, and delivery. The greeting card industry is today a multi-billion dollar business, with Christmas cards a large part of the output. History indicates that evolution of the greeting card has moved right alongside changes in the country and the world, and today greeting cards continue to offer us much what they gave us long ago . . . hope, cheer, and universal messages of love and happiness.