The writing and posting of messages on Saint Valentine’s Day has a long history. On February 14 girls in ancient Rome would place their names in a box and invite the boys to choose. The celebration of Saint Valentine’s Day is mentioned by Chaucer and Shakespeare and was popular in England during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Samuel Pepys wrote of it in his diary in 1667 and in 1838 Hone’s Everyday book estimated that 20,000 cards were sent for Valentine’s Day each year. In 1888 Chamber’s Book of days referred to “many hundred thousand” being sent.
In the latter part of the 20th century Saint Valentine’s Day became known as a ‘Hallmark holiday’ in the USA because of the numbers of commercial greeting cards that are sold. It is not difficult to imagine that the posted greeting may eventually be overtaken by the virtual Valentine.
This photograph is from the studio of Charles Kerry & Co and is part of the Museum’s Tyrrell collection. Like many of the staged images created by the Kerry studio, its purpose was a narrative one. In late nineteenth century Australia, the postal service was, for many, an essential link between their isolated rural existence and the wider world. As well as an opportunity to receive news from afar, meeting the mailman, for some, may have been an important social occasion.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Photography by Charles Kerry & Co., Tyrrell collection.
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