Going out to dinner this Sunday for Valentine’s Day? Already dreading the crowds and the limited fixe prix menu that all restaurants offer that night?
Try this instead. Fix your topknot, grab your walking stick and celebrate Valentine’s Day just like the Victorians did. On Valentine’s Day, the Merchant’s House Museum is presenting a 70 minute program of romantic songs and arias by 19th-century composers Brahms, Schumann, Faure, Wolf, Tosti, Foster and more. The concert will be performed in the Museum’s Greek Revival double parlors by members of the Bond Street Euterpean Singing Society: Anthony Bellov, Rosalind Gnatt, Jane Rady, Dayle Vander Sande, a group with a particular interest in 19th century parlor music.
Home to a prosperous merchant-class family for almost 100 years, The Merchant’s House Museum is a an elegant red brick and marble row house complete with the family’s original furnishings and personal possessions, offering a rare and intimate glimpse of domestic life during the three decades before the Civil War. As the real thing, the Merchant’s House is a perfect venue to enjoy an authentic Victorian salon concert. To complete the experience, why not take a cue from the Victorians and give your love an elaborate Valentine’s card, preferably one you’ve made yourself.
Long before Hallmark began the mass marketing of Valentine’s Day, the making of Valentine’s cards to send a loved one was something personal and creative. While there is evidence that Valentine’s Day has been celebrated since the third century A.D in Rome, it was those romantic Victorians that turned the giving of Valentine’s cards into an art form.
Using delicate lace paper festooned with ribbons, lace trimming, hearts, cupids and hand painted motifs, the hand made valentine was extravagant and sentimental. Often a lock of hair or some other personal adornment was enclosed in a small envelope folded into the card.
One of the first “mass producers” of the Valentine’s Card was an American, Esther Howland. It was after receiving her first English valentine’s card that she was inspired to make similar cards, importing fabrics and lace papers from Europe. Howland began taking orders for her hand made cards, selling them in her father’s stationary store, but she soon found that she could not keep up with the demand. Eventually, she hired family and friends to assist in their manufacture. Howland finally combined her business with another valentine manufacturer, starting the New England Valentine Company.
Victorian Valentine cards, even those made by others, often left space for a personal message from the sender. Booklets called “Valentines Writers” became available to help writers compose their personal message of endearment. The most famous of these is The Young Man’s Valentine Writer, a British publication that offered phrases for “successful wooing.” According to the American Antiquarian Society, many of the suggested verses were addressed to or from persons of a specific trade. For example, a fishmonger would tell his love, “Thou art a dish of tasty fish,” or a mason would sigh that his love’s heart is “harder than stone.” Perhaps a Hallmark card would have been welcomed even then.
It’s not too late to make your own Victorian Valentine card. All you need is a little bit of lace, paper and some creativity. Or if you need some assistance, there are kits available to help you make an “authentic” Esther Howland creation. Try the Victorian Valentine Kit at www.hearthsong.com, for one.
For beautiful examples of real Victorian valentines, the Merchant’s House Museum has an exhibit on its website of Valentine’s received by the Tredwell family in the nineteenth century. Before going to the concert, visit the exhibit at http://www.merchantshouse.org/virtual/exhibits/valentines.html.
Photos of Victorian Valentines are courtesy of The Merchant’s House Museum Collection.
The Merchant’s House Museum is located at 29 East Fourth Street. Concert begins at 5:30 pm on Sunday, February 14. Tickets are $20, $10 MHM Members. Reservations required; call 212-777-1089 or visit merchantshouse.org/events.
