Vigo County Historical Society

Cards offer Easter greetings

Easter, the most important Christian holiday, celebrates the resurrection of Christ and victory over death.

To persons of other faiths Easter is considered a spring festival and a time for joy at the reawakening of all nature. Such a joyous occasion lends itself to the practice of sending greeting cards to friends and relatives.

Easter greetings are usually more religious than cards for other holidays. The colors are softer and if the message is humorous, it is very subtle. Familiar symbols for Easter include flowers, chicks, colored eggs, bunnies, baskets and lambs. The symbol used most often is the cross softened with sprays of flowers.

During the Easter season of 1909, Mrs. H. C. Stakeman of 1347 Eagle St. in Terre Haute received two lovely greeting cards. The one with the cross and flowers came from Dubuque, Iowa and the one with the basket and chicks was postmarked Savannah, Ga.

On the back of each is a short personal message from the friend or relative. Each card made the trip across the country for a mere one-cent stamp.

The charming card with the uniformed messenger boy on a bicycle was never mailed. It could have been presented by hand. The childish scrawl is barely legible but seems to be written for "Dear Uncle Leslie" and signed what looks like "Leslie Milner." We hope it reached its destination as the packages look like boxes containing Easter bonnets to be worn in the Easter Parade.

Most of the greeting cards today are the booklet type and are enclosed in an envelope which required the full letter postage.

Some of the delightful postcard type greetings are reproduced and are collected. The one in the photograph were made in Germany and Worcester, Mass.

Easter greetings like these are now collected and put in albums. The photo shows just a few of the many Easter cards in the museum collection.