(Editor’s note: DeeDee Wood is the owner of Black Cat Curiosities, an online antiques research and sales venue.)

Esther Howland, an American artist and publisher, is known as the “Mother of the American Valentine” for her creation, production and distribution of Valentine’s Day cards in the United States in the 19th century.

Valentine’s Day is synonymous with Valentine greeting cards. The holiday would not be the same without the memories of receiving special cards of love from friends, family, schoolmates and more.
Esther Howland, an American artist and publisher, is known as the “Mother of the American Valentine” for her creation, production and distribution of Valentine’s Day cards in the United States in the 19th century.
Howland was born in Massachusetts in 1828. Her father owned a large book and stationery store, and had previously published a cookbook in the state. Howland attended Mount Holyoke College at 19, and during this time period, had received a Valentine card from her father’s business associate.
Upon inspection of the card, she was not impressed, and decided she could make something far more superior for distribution.
In the 19th century, during her early life, greeting cards for Valentine’s Day were in existence, but were imported from Europe and not very affordable. Although Esther Howland did not invent the Valentine’s Day greeting card by any means, she certainly earned her title of “Mother of the American Valentine” by her tenacious creation and production of interesting, quality cards. Many cards exchanged in this country at the time were depicting comics, insults, (known as vinegar valentines), and weren’t widely distributed in a factory setting procedure.
Howland first purchased, through her father’s business, supplies to make samples that could be shown for inventory examples on sales trips conducted by her brother for the family business.
At the end of the initial business trip, Howland was delighted that he obtained more than $5,000 worth of orders in the initial run. The idea had fruited into a tangible business model.
A guest bedroom on the third floor of the Howland home in Worcester, Mass., became the assembly line for the card orders, employing a group of women who would help her cut designs, assemble creations, box and prepare shipments and more.
Her cards contained poetic verses within the card, much like their English counterparts, and became a part of the standard of the industry, due to her early creations with prose within the cards.
In the early 1850s, Howland began to advertise her business, and was able to import higher quality supplies from Europe to create her greeting cards. She gave her company a name and incorporated it in 1870, the “New England Valentine Company,” and began stamping her creations with “N.E.V. Co.” on the back of the cards.
During this time period between 1850-70, her cards became even more creative, with places to hold locks of hair of a lover, ribbons, illustrations, secret compartments, three-dimensional components and more.
Intricate lace was also quite popular on cards during this time period, overlayed on illustrations of the era.
Esther Howland was known as shrewd businesswoman, who knew the success of pricing per unit in a market like greeting cards meant keeping prices competitive, and quality high.
She personally inspected each card that went out in her early days at her company.
She is also considered a trailblazer today, an example of an independent female business executive who was known for, among other things, paying women employees a decent wage. In 1879, the company moved to a factory, still doing business under Esther Howland as the New England Valentine Company.
One of her unique achievements was creating a verse book that one could draw phrases from for cards to write into a blank interior, or paste over card sayings when canned sayings weren’t what the customer wanted to convey.
The factory also saw Howland’s company produce birthday cards, holiday greetings and more expansion with more room for manufacturing and shipping.
Effected by her own health issues and an ailing father with special care needs, after grossing more than $100,000 (that’s $3 million in today’s money) in the late 1800s, the Valentine company was sold to a business competitor and thus ended the reign over the printed love intentions of an era.
Tenacity, ingenuity, creative thought processes and the desire for an affordable product, coupled with the opportunity through her father’s business to realize the roots of her dream, Howland was able to bring the holiday of love into fruition in a big way to the United States, who could previously not afford the more costly Valentine’s Day cards of European creation and importation. Her business acumen, creativity and ingenuity earned her the special title of the Mother of the American Valentine.