So I saw this article featuring a vintage paper valentine that, at first blush, looked like one of those charmingly twee vintage pieces of ephemera and I almost passed it by… until I realized that the banner read, “I’ll get married, but not to you.” Well, Dear Reader, I was hooked.
The piece is from a compendium of about 12,000 cards spanning 40 years. The valentines run from the sentimental to the decidedly unsentimental and quirky. They employ various techniques including cut paper, pop-ups, and something new to me—the cobweb.
Read more about this quirky collection: Three Centuries of Valentines Offer 12,000 Ways to Say ‘I Love You’
Frankly, the lede was buried because the real story—i this gal’s opinion—is about the collector, historian Nancy Rosin. Rosin works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a volunteer cataloger in the Department of Drawings and Prints. Be sure to check out Unpacking a Box of Love written by Rosin about how she fell in love with the Met’s lush collection of vintage valentines.
Lots of pictures at these links, just the thing to peruse while you’re enjoying a box of chocolates today!
Have a happy one!
