Long before heart-shaped boxes and mass-market romance became fixtures of February 14, a young woman in Worcester, Massachusetts, figured out how to turn an imported luxury into an American staple. Esther Allen Howland, an artist with an eye for ornate detail and a head for business, is widely credited with making Valentine’s Day greeting cards a thriving U.S. industry.
Howland was born in Worcester in 1828 into a family steeped in publishing and commerce. Her father, Southworth Allen Howland (1800–1882), ran S.A. Howland & Sons, described as Worcester’s largest book and stationery shop, and the household had deep New England roots: both Esther and her father traced their lineage to Mayflower passenger John Howland. Her mother, Esther Allen, also left a mark in print, writing The New England Economical Housekeeper and Family Receipt Book, a cookbook issued in 1844 and published for roughly the next decade by Southworth Howland. Esther grew up alongside her brothers William, Samuel and Joseph.
In 1847, after graduating from Mount Holyoke College—then known as Mount Holyoke Women’s Seminary—Howland returned home with the kind of education not often available to women of her era. Within a short time, a single piece of mail helped set her future course. At 19, she received a valentine sent by a business associate of her father’s—an elaborate European-style greeting adorned with a fine lace border, floral cutouts and a pale green envelope at its center holding a verse for the holiday.
In mid-19th-century America, such intricate valentines largely came from Europe and were priced beyond the reach of many buyers. Howland believed she could match—or surpass—the craftsmanship while producing cards Americans could obtain more easily. She persuaded her father to secure materials from New York City and England and then produced a small batch of sample designs.
To test whether the idea could sell, Howland enlisted her brother—described as a salesman—to take about a dozen examples along on a business trip connected to the family enterprise. She anticipated perhaps $200 worth of orders. Instead, her brother returned with more than $5,000 in commitments, an early signal that a national market existed for homegrown valentines.
From a residence on Summer Street in Worcester, Howland built what amounted to a handcrafted manufacturing operation. A guest bedroom on the third floor became a workspace, and she organized an assembly system that relied on friends to reproduce her designs and help construct the finished pieces. Howland herself cut the foundational pattern for each valentine, while the group meticulously copied and completed the cards.
She also expanded production by hiring women who worked remotely, assembling components at home from boxes of supplies Howland prepared. After a week, a driver collected the work and returned it for her review. Howland inspected every card, later saying her workers were paid “liberally” and that the tasks were “light and pleasant.” Early designs often featured short four-line verses pasted inside, echoing earlier English examples—an approach that would become a familiar standard in the American market.
Valentine’s Day cards had been available in the United States for decades before Howland launched her operation, but she is credited as the first to commercialize them on a significant scale domestically. Her first advertisement appeared in 1850 in the Worcester Spy, and she soon developed into a full-time business owner, importing additional materials from Germany and experimenting with embellishments such as silk and embossed lithograph ornaments.
To set her products apart and assert her brand, Howland began marking the back of cards with a red “H,” along with the price and the letters “N.E.V.Co.,” shorthand for the New England Valentine Company. Her offerings ranged from relatively affordable pieces to striking showpieces selling from one dollar to as much as fifty dollars, including cards with ribbons, illustrations, hidden doors, gilded lace, and interior envelopes meant to hold private notes—or even locks of hair or engagement rings.
Her enterprise did not confine itself to February. Howland produced greetings for Christmas, New Year’s and birthdays, and also sold items such as cards, booklets and May baskets.
A serious knee injury in 1866 left Howland using a wheelchair, but she continued her work. In 1870, she incorporated her business under the New England Valentine Company name and also merged with a competitor, Edward Taft. She remained based at home until 1879, when she relocated operations to a factory. That year she also issued The New England Valentine Co.’s Valentine Verse Book, a 31-page publication created for customers who loved a card’s appearance but wanted different wording. The book offered 131 verses printed in red, green, blue and gold inks, presented in three sizes, so buyers could paste a preferred verse over the original.
Howland’s valentines traveled across the country, and the business ultimately generated more than $100,000 a year. In 1880, she sold the company to competitor George Whitney so she could care for her ailing father.
Howland’s later years were marked by declining health. In 1904, she fractured her femur and spent eight months confined to bed. She died that year at her home at 9 Adams St. in Quincy.
After her death, admirers and historians dubbed her “The Mother of the American Valentine,” a reflection of both her commercial success and her design innovations. She is credited with introducing the “lift-up” valentine—layered constructions that built texture and color through lace, ribbon and other materials—and with popularizing techniques such as lace layering, thin paper elements, three-dimensional accordion effects and bouquet-style features in which flowers moved to reveal a verse when pulled by a string.
Source: Wikipedia
