Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: 1878

A-La-Mode Fair One: 'Tis balmy eve, and gentle zephyrs blow With mildness seldom seen of late. If you'll permit me, I would like to go And see you safely to the garden gate. Illustration: Yum Yum. Scene at the gate. This is an example of a Victorian-era acquaintance card , which was also referred to in the nineteenth century as a flirtation, escort, or invitation card. The Encyclopedia of Ephemera (New York: Routledge, 2000), p 4, provides this definition: "A novelty variant of the American calling card of the 1870s and 1880s, the acquaintance card was used by the less formal male in approaches to the less formal female. Given also as an 'escort card' or 'invitation card,' the device commonly carried a brief message and a simple illustration.... Flirtatious and fun, the acquaintance card brought levity to what otherwise might have seemed a more formal proposal. A common means of introduction, it was never taken too seriously." Here's CNN's take on acquaintance or escort cards: "So, may I see you home? In the late 19th century, Americans exchanged cheeky personalized cards to start a romance. Call them the ink-and-paper Tinder. Escort cards helped people find intimacy while breaking the strict conventions of social interaction." That's the description of a video that appeared on CNN's Great Big Story today (February 12, 2016). The short piece (1:25) uses reproductions of my collection of acquaintance cards (see my complete set on Flickr or the ones I've posted on Ipernity so far ) to present The 19th Century Tinder: Welcome to the Racy World of Escort Cards over on YouTube (don't miss my acknowledgement at the end of the video ). For those who may not be familiar with the sometimes naughty Tinder , Wikipedia calls it a "location-based dating and social discovery application (using Facebook) that facilitates communication between mutually interested users, allowing matched users to chat." So, were acquaintance or escort cards--like the one above--the nineteenth-century equivalent of Tinder, as the video suggests? I don't really think that formally dressed Victorian men and women secretly gave each other cards in order to hook up like we see in the video. Although some of the cards may sound like cheesy pickup lines to modern ears, I think it's more likely that school kids and young adults used them to break the ice, get a laugh, or start a conversation rather than to arrange a tryst. In reality, acquaintance cards provided a lighthearted and humorous way to parody the more formal exchange of calling cards that took place in Victorian times. Acquaintance cards were sold by the same companies that supplied calling cards, rewards of merit, and advertising trade cards, and they show up alongside these other printed items in the scrapbooks that were popular with women and children in the nineteenth century. Back to the Yum Yum A La Mode card. Here's how it was advertised in the Argus and Patriot newspaper, Montpelier, Vermont, on September 18, 1878, p. 4. The following text appeared along with the "Yum Yum" illustration: Boss. Red Hot. If you want to smile all over your face for six months, just send for the Red Hot Flirtation Cards, 50 for 25 cts. Samples sent for 2 3-ct. stamps. Remember these cards are Red Hot Regular Tearers!! They cannot be beat. We stump everything of the kind. You will laugh till you cry if you send for them. P.O. stamps are better than silver to send in a letter, and are all the same to us. Write your orders plain. Address Marshall & Co., 35 Sudbury St., Boston, Mass. So what do you think? Was this a "Red Hot Flirtation Card" that Victorians used as a paper-based Tinder? For some other articles that have featured my acquaintance cards, take a look at these: Linton Weeks. When "Flirtation Cards" Were All The Rage . NPR, July 31, 2015. Becky Little. Saucy "Escort Cards" Were a Way to Flirt in the Victorian Era . National Geographic, January 4, 2016. Brett and Kate McKay. May I See You Home? 19th Century Calling Cards Guaranteed to Score You a Date . The Art of Manliness, February 13, 2014. Messy Nessy. The 19th Century Escort Cards with Pick-Up Lines You Definitely Haven’t Heard Before . Messy Nessy Chic, April 21, 2015. Esther Inglis-Arkell. Young People Used These Absurd Little Cards to Get Laid in the 19th Century . Gizmodo, January 6, 2016.

A Victorian-era calling card with handwritten name and date: "Alice A. Collar. Dec. 31st, 1878. A.A.C."

"Solar Tip Shoes. Manufactured only by John Mundell & Co., Philadelphia. The best sole leather tip made. Pat'd February 19, 1878."

"C. Byron Morse, fine and fancy cakes, ice cream, etc. Dining parlors for ladies and gentlemen, 912 Arch Street, Philad'a. Copyright 1878 by L. Prang & Co."

See the full version (above), top half , and bottom half . -------- Carriers' Annual Address to the Patrons of the Harrisburg Daily Patriot, Wednesday, January 1, 1879 Headline of newspaper in illustration: "A Happy New Year." -------- Carriers' Address A year has closed a circle again That ne'er can be broken by power of men; so list to a song of its woe and its cheer, A song of the sad, glad, dead old year, 'Tis the carriers' song, the carriers true Who've served you the news the whole year through. Oh, we are the carriers, ready and swift! We whistle right merrily all the way. As, bringing the latest news from the world, We hurry along in the morning gray. Oh, what cared we for the springtime fair, The budding trees and its opening flowers! Oh, what cared we for its sunshine sweet, Or its smirching mud and its drenching showers! The Turk had been crushed by the Czar's bold hosts, And peace would now reign in lands over the sea; In Congress, to keep peace all Europe would meet; --And we carried the news of these great things to be. Then William the good king of Prussia was shot-- We must carry the news--all Prussia was stirred. Then Mercedes died, the sweet Spanish queen, And from Spain the voice of sorrow was heard. Soon all in the cool, the sweet-scented shade Of the fresh summer morning we hurried along, Ere yet the fierce heat of the day had shone out, While caroled each bird his blithest, best song. But no time to enjoy these, for up from the South The voice of the fever-struck, praying, had come For help from the North in their day of distress, And we carried the prayer into each northern home. And then in the hazy, beautiful morn, All tinted with shades of the gold autumn days, We saw o'er the trees decked in numberless hues, The round, rising sun in its first glory blaze. But we cared not, we cared not for beauty of earth, For out on the pitiless, treacherous deep A shipload of lives had gone down in the night, And we bore the sad news that caused many to weep. Oh, cold, oh cold was the winter's wild blast, And blinding and thick was the hard-blowing snow! What cared we, what cared we for winter so drear! Let the snow drift deep and the cold winds blow! We carried the news of another ship lost-- The news of the day Congress opened its doors-- Of Beaconsfield's speech--the campaign in the East-- The heralds of "wars and rumors of wars." And now on our rounds the whole round year We've tirelessly traveled. To some have been sad The tidings we've brought, but as well have we brought The news that has made full many hearts glad. If the news that we faithfully lay at your doors Make sad hearts or glad hearts, we can never say; And we never would know. We travel our rounds And whistle right merrily all the way.

See the full version , top half (above), and bottom half . -------- Carriers' Annual Address to the Patrons of the Harrisburg Daily Patriot, Wednesday, January 1, 1879 Headline of newspaper in illustration: "A Happy New Year." -------- Carriers' Address A year has closed a circle again That ne'er can be broken by power of men; so list to a song of its woe and its cheer, A song of the sad, glad, dead old year, 'Tis the carriers' song, the carriers true Who've served you the news the whole year through. Oh, we are the carriers, ready and swift! We whistle right merrily all the way. As, bringing the latest news from the world, We hurry along in the morning gray. Oh, what cared we for the springtime fair, The budding trees and its opening flowers! Oh, what cared we for its sunshine sweet, Or its smirching mud and its drenching showers! The Turk had been crushed by the Czar's bold hosts, And peace would now reign in lands over the sea; In Congress, to keep peace all Europe would meet; --And we carried the news of these great things to be. Then William the good king of Prussia was shot-- We must carry the news--all Prussia was stirred. Then Mercedes died, the sweet Spanish queen, And from Spain the voice of sorrow was heard. Soon all in the cool, the sweet-scented shade Of the fresh summer morning we hurried along, Ere yet the fierce heat of the day had shone out, While caroled each bird his blithest, best song. But no time to enjoy these, for up from the South The voice of the fever-struck, praying, had come For help from the North in their day of distress, And we carried the prayer into each northern home. And then in the hazy, beautiful morn, All tinted with shades of the gold autumn days, We saw o'er the trees decked in numberless hues, The round, rising sun in its first glory blaze. But we cared not, we cared not for beauty of earth, For out on the pitiless, treacherous deep A shipload of lives had gone down in the night, And we bore the sad news that caused many to weep. Oh, cold, oh cold was the winter's wild blast, And blinding and thick was the hard-blowing snow! What cared we, what cared we for winter so drear! Let the snow drift deep and the cold winds blow! We carried the news of another ship lost-- The news of the day Congress opened its doors-- Of Beaconsfield's speech--the campaign in the East-- The heralds of "wars and rumors of wars." And now on our rounds the whole round year We've tirelessly traveled. To some have been sad The tidings we've brought, but as well have we brought The news that has made full many hearts glad. If the news that we faithfully lay at your doors Make sad hearts or glad hearts, we can never say; And we never would know. We travel our rounds And whistle right merrily all the way.

See the full version , top half , and bottom half (above). -------- Carriers' Annual Address to the Patrons of the Harrisburg Daily Patriot, Wednesday, January 1, 1879 Headline of newspaper in illustration: "A Happy New Year." -------- Carriers' Address A year has closed a circle again That ne'er can be broken by power of men; so list to a song of its woe and its cheer, A song of the sad, glad, dead old year, 'Tis the carriers' song, the carriers true Who've served you the news the whole year through. Oh, we are the carriers, ready and swift! We whistle right merrily all the way. As, bringing the latest news from the world, We hurry along in the morning gray. Oh, what cared we for the springtime fair, The budding trees and its opening flowers! Oh, what cared we for its sunshine sweet, Or its smirching mud and its drenching showers! The Turk had been crushed by the Czar's bold hosts, And peace would now reign in lands over the sea; In Congress, to keep peace all Europe would meet; --And we carried the news of these great things to be. Then William the good king of Prussia was shot-- We must carry the news--all Prussia was stirred. Then Mercedes died, the sweet Spanish queen, And from Spain the voice of sorrow was heard. Soon all in the cool, the sweet-scented shade Of the fresh summer morning we hurried along, Ere yet the fierce heat of the day had shone out, While caroled each bird his blithest, best song. But no time to enjoy these, for up from the South The voice of the fever-struck, praying, had come For help from the North in their day of distress, And we carried the prayer into each northern home. And then in the hazy, beautiful morn, All tinted with shades of the gold autumn days, We saw o'er the trees decked in numberless hues, The round, rising sun in its first glory blaze. But we cared not, we cared not for beauty of earth, For out on the pitiless, treacherous deep A shipload of lives had gone down in the night, And we bore the sad news that caused many to weep. Oh, cold, oh cold was the winter's wild blast, And blinding and thick was the hard-blowing snow! What cared we, what cared we for winter so drear! Let the snow drift deep and the cold winds blow! We carried the news of another ship lost-- The news of the day Congress opened its doors-- Of Beaconsfield's speech--the campaign in the East-- The heralds of "wars and rumors of wars." And now on our rounds the whole round year We've tirelessly traveled. To some have been sad The tidings we've brought, but as well have we brought The news that has made full many hearts glad. If the news that we faithfully lay at your doors Make sad hearts or glad hearts, we can never say; And we never would know. We travel our rounds And whistle right merrily all the way.