What in the World Wednesday #3? Wray Museum Young Historians Mother’s Day Cards and Postcards

History of Mother’s Day Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, but the closest modern precedent for Mother's Day is "Mothering Sunday", an early Christian festival popular in Europe that was timed to coincide with the fourth Sunday of Lent. In the United Sates in 1858, Ann Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker, organized “Mother’s Work Days to improve the sanitation and avert deaths from disease-bearing insects and seepage of polluted water. Ann, also known as “Mother Jarvis,” believed that community improvement by mothers was only a beginning. Throughout the Civil War she organized women’s brigades, asking her workers to do all they could without regard for which side their men had chosen. And, in 1868, she took the #2015.642.1 1923 Mother’s Day Postcard initiative to heal the bitter rifts between her 2015.539.352 3 1930s Mother’s Day Cards Confederate and Union neighbors. The younger Anna Jarvis was only twelve years old in 1878 when she listened to her mother teach a Sunday school lesson on mothers in the Bible. “I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother’s day,” the senior Jarvis said. “There are many days for men, but none for mothers.” In 1872, when Boston poet, pacifist and women’s suffragist Julia Ward Howe established a special day for mothers –and for peace– called Mother's Peace Day not long after the bloody Franco- Prussian War. “While the war was still in progress,” she wrote, she keenly felt the “cruel and unnecessary character of the contest.” She believed, as any woman might, that it could have been settled without bloodshed. And, she wondered, “Why do not the mothers of mankind interfere in these matters to prevent the waste of that human life of which they alone bear and know the cost?” In 1905, when Ann Jarvis died. Her daughter, Anna, decided to memorialize her mother’s lifelong activism, and began a campaign that culminated in 1914 when Congress passed a Mother’s Day resolution. She poured out a constant stream of letters to men of prominence — President William Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt among them — and enlisted considerable help from Philadelphia merchant John Wannamaker. By May of 1908, a Mother’s Day service had been arranged on the second Sunday in May at the Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where Mother Jarvis had taught. The custom spread to churches in 45 states and in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Mexico and Canada. The Governor of West Virginia proclaimed Mother’s Day in 1912; Pennsylvania’s governor in 1913 did the same. The following year saw the Congressional Resolution, which was promptly signed by President Woodrow Wilson. The proclamation named the second Sunday of May as a day for "public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country." Mother’s Day has endured. It serves now, as it originally did, to recognize the contributions of women. Mother’s Day, like the job of “mothering,” is varied and diverse. Mother’s Day Around the World

• Mother's Day, or some form of it, is celebrated internationally, albeit not on the same day or in the same way. The first celebrations in France in 1918 actually commended women for "re-populating" France, and mothers of four or more children were awarded a medal. Gold medals went to mothers of eight or more! Today French mothers, like those in the U.S., are more likely to receive flowers, food, or a Mother's Day gift. • In the United States, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Belgium, and Japan it is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. • In Great Britain, Mothering Sunday falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent. But Mother's Day is now observed in England as it is in North America, and the traditions associated with Mothering Sunday have been largely forgotten. • In Mexico, Mother's Day is always celebrated on May 10. When the holiday falls on a weekday, mothers take the day off from work and children stay home from school. Other countries that celebrate Mother's Day on May 10 include Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. • In Spain and Portugal, Mother's Day is celebrated on December 8, which is also the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Mothers are honored along with the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. • Other dates for Mother's Day celebrations: Norway – second Sunday in February; France – last Sunday in May; Sweden – last Sunday in May; South Africa – first Sunday in May. Mother Day Fun Facts

• The holiday is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. This year it will be on May 10th. • Hallmark produced its first Mother's Day card in the early 1920s • The original flower of Mother's Day was the unassuming carnation. It was Ann Jarvis's favorite, and as Anna said in a 1927 interview, "The carnation does not drop its petals, but hugs them to its heart as it dies, and so, too, mothers hug their children to their hearts, their mother love never dying." White carnations are to remember mothers who have died and colored carnation for mothers are alive. • St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia where the first Mother’s Day Service was held is now the location of the International Mother’s Day Museum. • More calls are made on Mother's Day than any other day of the year. Approximately 122 million calls are made on the second Sunday of May in 2011 • There are an estimated 1.7 billion mothers worldwide. The moniker 'Mom' comes from babies. The first thing a baby can vocalize is the 'ma' sound, which is why in almost every language the word for mother begins with the letter 'M' or is some iteration of the 'ma' sound • Franklin D. Roosevelt personally designed a Mother’s Day stamp in 1934. It featured the famous “Whistler’s Mother” painting by James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

• Anna Jarvis, even though she had never had children herself, she was the mother of Mother's Day, and each Mother's Day her room would be filled with thousands of letters and cards from all over the world. One of them she prized highly, and hung on her wall. It read: "I am six years old and I love my mother very much. I am sending you this because you started Mother's Day." Carefully sewn to this letter from a little boy was a $1 bill.

• The most popular gift for Mother's Day is the greeting card. Every Mother's Day there are approximately 152 million Mother's Day cards sent. The average American buys 2.8 Mother’s Day cards, so most people are buying more than just one for their mom. Many people opt to buy Mother's Day cards for grandmothers, sisters, and their mother-in-law.

Helpful tips for Making a Mother’s Day Card

Taking the time to make a Mother’s Day Card personally, lets the receiver know just how special they are to you. Anyone can go to the store, grab a card from the shelf and mail it, but making one with your hands shows just how much you care about the person that receives the card. There are card crafts for every level of crafter ranging from the simple to the complex. If you are a beginning card maker, you might appreciate some of the next card making tips and tricks. They will help you avoid many of the mistakes and problems.

Tip 1 Gather Supplies- You will need cardstock paper for the cards, decorations (such as ribbons, stickers, buttons, stamps, and glitter), scissors, punches, glue, tape, or glue dots. Think outside the box you can use all sort of items. If you are having trouble coming up with an idea, look online there are hundreds of cards ideas to make.

Tip 2 Many times beginners don't have a clue determining which colors to use. A simple way to get excellent results is to pick a color from the image you are using and make that your cardstock background color. Use one or two more colors from the picture to add similar colored embellishments and accents to your card.

Tip 3 Beautiful papers are not cheap. Make sure to repurpose your saved paper scraps. You can always use your punches and die cut machine to cut simple shapes from the scrap paper. Use those paper shapes to embellish your cards. Who doesn't want to save money? Tip 4 When laying out cut paper shapes onto a card people will often use a pencil to make light marks as a placement guide. After adhering your embellishments, the pencil marks need to be erased. Make sure only to use a white polymer eraser. Pink erasers and worse yet pencil erasers will leave dark spots and smudges on your card. Tip 5 Ribbons are a beautiful touch to card design, but sometimes you will find that the ends will fray. An easy fix to this problem is applying a bit of clear nail polish to the ends. No more fraying!

Tip 6 Write over the penciled lines using your calligraphy pen. Do this slowly and carefully, taking care not to smear the ink. If you’re lettering on both the front and inside of the card, you’ll want to letter the front first and allow it to dry completely before moving on to the inside lettering.

Tip 7 Don’t forget to sign your name. Your mother will love your card and the time and effort you took to make it for her. You can make homemade cards for every occasion. Have fun and be creative!