Valentine's Day in Historical Newspapers

This month at the library we declare our love for newspapers, particularly historical newspapers. From advertisements to advice columns, from job listing to obituaries, old newspapers capture a sense of what the past was like. With Valentine's Day approaching, I decided to use our online archive of the Chicago Tribune to see what people in the past thought about the holiday.

A Burden on the Post Office

The USPS isn't in good shape these days, but it seems that Valentine's Day was an undue burden in 1876. A short article titled, "St. Valentine's Day: Post Office Statistics" (2/15/1876) laments that "12,000 brainless individuals" caused "havoc" for the Post Office in Chicago. Processing so many valentines "puts every one out of humor with too much hard work."

Avoiding Vulgarity

Many stories from this period focus on how to avoid "vulgarity" and bad taste on Valentine's Day. One story in particular, "Softests of Saints: How to Celebrate St. Valentine's Day in Proper Style" (2/14/1889) laments the state of paper valentines:

"The evolution of the paper valentine has not been satisfactory. In the time of our great-grandfathers the youth...meant something by their valentines. With infinite labor they cut delicate designs.... From these simple missives the valentine became a color chromo, decorated with lace paper and embellished with gilt."

Making Money on Valentines's Day

Fast forward to 1913 and the column "How to Earn Money at Home" (1/24/1913) suggests ways that women can earn money from home on Valentine's Day. One product that could be successful is "a vanity bag in bright scarlet with the base made in heart shape and a tiny box of talcum covered with the same silk". Another option would be to make "stuffed dates and figs that are so fresh and so good because they are made of good materials and delivered freshly made."

These are just a few examples of the hundreds of stories, columns, and advertisements about Valentine's Day in the Historical Chicago Tribune Archive. If you want to find similar stories, just log in with your library card, and search for "st. valentine's day". You can limit your search by document type, time period, and more.

And so your love affair with historical newspapers begins!

Can I access these resources from home?

Yes, you can!

With a valid Des Plaines Public Library, any of the links above should take you right to the online resource.

Don't have a library card? Stop by sometime and get one. Any Des Plaines resident can apply.

We'll always have the Love Tent

If you haven't been by the library recently, you might have missed the "Love Tent" on the third floor. What is the "Love Tent"? It's our celebration of love and romance in the cold month of February.

We built the first "Love Tent" several years back to celebrate a new romance section on the third floor. It was a fun way to inject some color into the library and draw attention to the reorganization of the romance books.

This year, Readers Services decided it was time to build another "Love Tent". Our talented graphic designer Gina reached out to several vendors for support. We were very happy to have the talented people at Red Letter Event Planning, Forget Me Knodt, and Thompson's Grand Rental Station help us build our love oasis.

For the next two weeks, the "Love Tent" will also function as the "Fall in love with Freegal" tent. Drop by at the following times to learn a little bit about our new music downloading product:

Tuesday, 2/14 from 3:30pm to 5:30pm
Thursday, 2/16 from 3:30pm to 5:30pm
Tuesday 2/21 from 3:30pm to 5:30pm
Thursday, 2/23 from 3:30pm to 5:30pm
Saturday, 2/18 from 11am to 1pm

We hope that the "Love Tent" inspires you to try a little tenderness (and Freegal) in February.