Odd Wisconsin Archive
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day is Tuesday, so you have time this weekend to pick up something special for your sweetheart. When you're all worn out from wandering the malls in pursuit of the perfect gift, click over to our gallery of historic valentines to see where this custom originated.
Years ago, people didn't buy mass-produced cards from multinational corporations in chain stores. They made valentines themselves as a personal expression of their feelings. For example, here are the winners and entries in the 1932 Capital Times valentine contest.
Of course, merchants have always tried to capitalize on the holiday sentiment of their customers. Here's the main floor of Manchester's Department Store in Madison with valentine displays in 1941. Within a year of that display, American couples would be torn apart by war. This rhyming valentine was sent by a soldier in the Pacific back to his wife back in Wisconsin in 1943.
We don't know when school children began exchanging valentines in classrooms, but one aspect of it that seems to have died out is the crowning of a king and queen like these two in Milwaukee. Compulsory expressions of affection between children always struck some people as odd, but to compete for king and queen at it is an especially strange twist.
You can view more Valentines Day photos at our Wisconsin Historical Images collection. You'll find 70,000 other pictures there, too, and you can buy a high-quality reproduction suitable for framing of almost anything you see. Look for the house you grew up in, your home town, or browse through galleries of photos about special topics.
:: Posted in Curiosities on February 9, 2012
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