W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2007 "In praise of Bishop Valentine": The creation of modern Valentine's Day in antebellum America Brian Keith Geiger College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Geiger, Brian Keith, ""In praise of Bishop Valentine": The creation of modern Valentine's Day in antebellum America" (2007). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623325. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-kayr-t312 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "IN PRAISE OF BISHOP VALENTINE": THE CREATION OF MODERN VALENTINE'S DAY IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Brian Keith Geiger 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Brian K Gefeer Approved by the Committee, October 2006 tobert A. Gross, Chair University of Connecticut Scott Nelson HU po Ronald Schechter Stephen Nissenbaum University of Massachusetts, Amherst ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements v List of Figures vii Abstract ix Preface 2 Chapter 1. Hearts Across the Ocean: An English Holiday's Circuitous Trip to America 10 An English Holiday Before Mid-Century 12 Celebrating after a Depression 27 Chapter 2. Love in the City: The Business of Valentine's Day in New York 44 Urban Growth and Holiday Business Expansion 48 Holiday Advertising and the Rise of the Penny Press 75 Valentine's Day Exchanges via the U.S. Mail 92 Chapter 3. Heart in Hand: Augusta Babcock and Her Generation Exchange Valentines 101 A Commercial Holiday for Youths 103 Directing Adolescent Courting 118 Publicly Private Gendered Exchanges 131 Chapter 4. Going into Print: Writing and Publishing for February 14 th 148 Learning from Valentine Writers 150 Manufacturing a Card 161 Handwriting Verse 180 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Chapter 5. Malice in the Mail: A Flourishing Trade in Comic Valentines 193 Quizzical Sheets 196 Popular Caricatured Reflections 209 What's So Funny? 226 Epilogue 244 Appendix 1: Holiday Stores Advertising in Penny Newspapers 253 Appendix 2: American and British Valentine Writers 256 Works Cited 268 Vita 381 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My deepest gratitude goes to my advisor, Robert Gross, who saw the potential in this topic from the first day I proposed it to him. Throughout the long process of researching and writing, Bob deftly managed the often-competing obligations of an advisor to be both a supporter and a critic, encouraging me to forge ahead while also pushing me to develop ideas more clearly or take them in different directions. Little did I know, when I came to William and Mary over a decade ago to work with Bob, how rewarding the relationship would be. It hasn't always been easy, but the process has fundamentally shaped and improved my scholarship. All graduate students should be so lucky. Numerous other individuals also helped along the way. Early on, before I had done much writing at all, an interdisciplinary group of graduate students from the humanities and social sciences created a dissertation reading group. Over the years the various members of that group provided countless words of encouragement and advice. Though I don't have the space to name them all, I would like to thank, in alphabetical order, Tim Barnard, Dave Corlett, Stephen Feeley, Amy Howard, Beth Komski, Robert Nelson, Melissa Ooten, James Spady, Amy Speckart, and Andrea Westcot. Rob Nelson, in particular, read and critiqued almost every chapter of this work. I will forever cherish the intellectual and personal bond Rob and I formed during our time as graduate students. Toward the end of the dissertating process, several faculty members provided invaluable assistance and guidance. Scott Nelson read several chapters in their early stages, helped to steer me through the literature on the English middle class, and during the defense offered excellent ideas for rethinking some broad themes and issues. I am especially grateful to Ron Schechter for not only reading my dissertation, particularly the chapter on comic missives, but also for generously helping me through the process of applying for teaching jobs the first time I went on the market. I would also like to thank my outside reader, Stephen Nissenbaum, whose enthusiasm and suggestions for my work will inspire and guide me as I turn it into a manuscript. Many institutions also supported my research and writing. The College of William and Mary and its History Department gave me numerous travel grants to visit archives and present conference papers. More generally, the History Department funded my graduate career by offering assistantships well beyond my sixth year of funding. The American Antiquarian Society, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Winterthur Library, and the Hallmark Archives graciously helped me to locate and wade through boxes of nineteenth-century valentines in their possessions. I am especially grateful to Hallmark for not only opening their doors to me, but also providing me the facilities to make color copies of their excellent collection, many of which appear in the following pages. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Most of all, though, I am indebted to my partner, Nicole Cloeren, who has been beside me throughout the entire dissertation process, first as a friend, then as a girlfriend, and now as my wife. Her love and encouragement helped to steady me when the waters got rough; I hope I can do the same as she gets ready to write her own dissertation. This work is dedicated to her. vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Puzzle Purse circa 1800 32 2. Esther Howland Valentine, circa 1850-1859 46 3. Numbers of Businesses Advertising 49 4. New York City circa 1832 51 5. Print shops advertising in New York Newspapers in 1845 59 6. Print retailers advertising in New York papers in 1847 60 7. Print retailers advertising in New York papers in 1849 61 8. Print retailers advertising in New York papers in 1851 62 9. Print retailers advertising in New York papers in 1853 63 10. Print retailers advertising in New York papers in 1855 64 11. Print retailers advertising in New York papers in 1857 65 12. Print retailers advertising in New York papers in 1859 66 13. The City Hall Park Area 70 14. Ad for T.W. Strong circa 1848 72 15. Ad for Shepard's Store 82 16. Card from Augusta Babcock's Collection 110 17. T.W. Strong's Advertiser from 1847 112 18. Valentine's Day Newspaper Ad 121 19. Cupids 128 vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 20. Cupid 130 21. Lithographed Cards, Shared Image 163 22. Lithographed Card 164 23a. Outside of Lace Valentine with Envelope 165 23b. Inside of Lace Valentine 166 24. Esther Howland Card circa 1850s 172 25. Homemade Card circa 1840s 173 26. Walter Crane Valentine circa 1875 175 27. Examples of Handwriting from Augusta's Collection 188 28. Banknote Valentine 203 29. Comic Valentine: “The Tyrant” 211 30. Comic Valentine: “A Daughter of the D—” 213 31. Comic Valentine: “Long Tongued Woman” 214 32. Comic Valentine 215 33. Comic Valentine: “Clerk” 217 34. Comic Valentine: “Gardener” 218 35. Comic Valentine: “Pretty Lady do not Rage” 223 36. Comic Valentine 233 37. Comic Valentine 234 viii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT "In Praise of Bishop Valentine" is a cultural history of Valentine's Day in the American antebellum Northeast. By the middle of the nineteenth century, residents of England and North America had been observing February 14th with various folk customs for centuries. In the early 1840s, however, Northern businessmen and women discovered an enthusiastic and consumptive market for their ready-made valentines. Within a matter of years these merchants' efforts to sell printed cards fundamentally changed the way saint's day was marked. Valentine's Day had become one of the most celebrated holidays of the year and an occasion, specifically, for buying and exchanging manufactured sentiments. New media and businesses helped to popularize February 14th, in the process taking a novel form of urban youth culture and rapidly dispersing it throughout the region. As it spread, Valentine's Day helped to define a new social category, youth, by working to guide young men and women through premarital sexual temptations and to accustom them to the emotional expressiveness that would soon define the Victorian marriage. The new holiday tradition of exchanging numerous missives riveted antebellum youthful interest for two basic reasons. By intentionally obscuring their mass-produced qualities in order to accentuate individual distinctiveness and convey a personal aura, ready-made cards provided young men and women with a way to use commercial goods to convey authentic, individual sentiments.