Descriptive inventory for the greeting cards collection, 1840s-1990s

Provenance statement:

Materials were brought togther as a composite collection with mostly unknown provenance except 7 boxes from accession # 1986.0452 (used as the collection's main call number), 1 folder from 1951.0191, 1 box from accession # 1989.0091, 1 folder from accession # 1990.0515, 1 box from accession # 1995.0274 and 1 card from 2001.0074.

Terms governing use:

Copyright may be retained by the creators of items, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.

Restriction(s):

This collection is open for research.

Please cite this collection as:

Greeting cards collection (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.

Photomechanically printed greeting cards and paper cutouts, some grouped in albums or scrapbooks, that document over a century of commercial graphic design. Holidays primarily represented are Christmas, St. Valentine's Day, New Year, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, and Thanksgiving. Additional cards include birthday, get well, thank you, wedding, anniversary, new baby, congratulations, merit awards, sympathy, patriotic, graduation, friendship, vacation, invitation, and calling cards. Other paper materials like paper dolls, trade cards, and stationery also are included. The bulk of the cards are blank, but some are addressed, signed, and/or dated. Box 32 includes Mayor Richard M. Daley family Christmas card from 1998.