Valentine's Day Postcard, c. 1921



Postcards were a popular and cheaper alternative to greeting cards in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This postcard for Valentine’s Day is historically significant because it reflects contemporary political and social events, specifically the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, was ratified on August 18, 1920. It’s interesting to note that the woman’s dress reflects the styles worn c. 1912-14, at the height of the Women’s Suffrage movement (perhaps suggesting that she was a suffragist?), rather than the current styles which, by 1920, already featured the dropped waists that would become the quintessential “flapper” look of the 1920s.