I like to shop on eBay for vintage treasures to keep and sell. Sometimes the items I receive are awesome and exciting, other times not quite as wonderful as I thought they'd be. But a few days ago I received a box in the mail that thrilled!
It was filled with Christmas cards. Vintage Christmas cards, that is. Most of them from the 30s and 40s - a lovely era for graphics. Most of them in their original envelopes, complete with Christmas seals, very old stamps, and postmarks that read things like, "6:30 p.m. Dec 24 1941," and "Buy U.S. War Bonds; Ask Your Postmaster." Oh - and did I mention that it was filled? As in "to the brim?"
All of the cards were addressed to the Schoulteis family of Cold Spring, Kentucky. Edna, Alma, and Elizabeth - although most of them were for Edna. A handful were sent to Mr. and Mrs. John Schoulteis, and a couple were "in care of" him. Cold Spring is a suburb of Cincinnati. Turns out I'd been near Cold Spring many a time on trips home during college, as it was on the route between Carbondale, Illinois and home - even though home kept changing places back then. . . .
The box was like a miniature family history, tracing a family's relations and acquaintances from over the course of some 15-odd years. Alma lived in Cincinnati from 1935 through around 1937. Elizabeth was a teacher. Edna had a suitor, Herbert L. Elijah of Ligonier, Indiana - a small town in the northeast corner of the state (and which is just a hop, skip and you know away from Angola, where my parents eloped in 1951). Edna's girlfriends made references to the couple on their cards, but Herbert seemed to be a bit of a clod at romance. Here is the card she received from him in 1937:
The poor dear. . . .
He sent her the same card the following year. He signed only his name in that one.
It doesn't appear that they ever got married.
The war didn't stop the holiday greetings from coming. . . .
May you have a delightful and wondrous holiday season. . .
hugs to you,
cathie
Hello Fleaology ladies! It was so nice meeting you all at Brenda's Just A Bed of Roses! I have enjoyed your blogs and the little snippets of your lives. I do love these cards and the graphics from the 30's and 40's. Bought some myself at a garage sale a few summers ago. Looks like I'll be needing to get a carload of friends to come to your winter sale in January. IF the weather is not too scary to drive in...Although we'll do almost anything to get to a great sale! Mimi
ReplyDeleteI today bought a bible in Florence Ky that belonged to this family. It is inscribed to Lauretta Jeanette Schoulties of Cold Spring... wonder what happened to this family that all their treasures are all over?
ReplyDeleteI'm looking for antique envelopes with postmarks from the Cincinnati area. I use them to draw pen and ink drawings. Do you have any envelopes for sale?
ReplyDeletekatherinet@live.com