Calling, advertising, and greeting cards, 1906-1920.
In 1975, Elizabeth Shoughro of New Orleans donated to Tulane University her collection of early twentieth-century commercially printed cards, of three types: calling cards, advertising cards, and greeting cards. Calling cards were commonly used, a hundred years ago and earlier, as an informational memento to give to a host family when visiting. The examples in this collection are small in size, similar to a modern business card, and range from plain white with only the name in black, to more elaborate and imaginative with color printing, tiny envelopes, and expressions of love. These reveal a social networking intention which is familiar to us, but the style of the cards reveals the innocence of an earlier time. Greeting cards were mailed and given out as they are today, to celebrate the holidays and special occasions, and in fact are very much in the same spirit. They are decorative, light-hearted and sometimes humorous. Occasionally, a religious theme appears, but more often the tr...