May fortune's lantern burn serene

Collecting Halloween postcards has become increasingly popular in modern times (Hughes & Kinsella, 1998; Nicholson, 1994). A quick search of the auction website eBay at any given moment returns thousands of Halloween postcards available for auction or purchase. While the demand and value of postcards continues to wane, the demand and value of Halloween postcards from the early twentieth century is high, with some of the rarest postcards fetching hundreds of dollars. Dating from approximately 1900 to 1920 and aided by a rise in mass production and mass distribution, the golden age of postcards coincided with the introduction of the middle class and increases in mass consumption in the United States. As the middle class grew, a renegotiation of the power structure between men and women ensued (Gifford, 2013, 2016; Simmons, 2003). Due to the changes in the power dynamic between the genders, women not only began to network outside of the home but also participated in the creation and dissemination of sociocultural norms. As women became responsible for purchasing their households' goods and services, many agreed they were becoming the country's primary purchasers (Golia, 2016; Hirshon, 2020; Williams, 2017). This newfound responsibility helped women express themselves in ways they had been unable to do so before. Sending turn of the century postcards became a way for women to firmly establish and promote their importance while communicating how they desired to see their world. Antithetical to the popularity of golden age postcards' is the seemingly innocuous nature of the ephemera. The mass adoption of holiday postcard exchange by middle-class women during this time justifies postcards finding their place as an extension of the turn of the century promotional culture. Extending beyond advertising and marketing, promotional culture has come to encompass all types of messaging meant to influence society including communications associated with public relations, propaganda, entertainment, and the news, to name a few (Wernick, 1988). As cultural artifacts, golden age postcards are emblematic of the sociocultural values that were introduced and perpetuated in the early twentieth century. This study aims to illustrate that golden age Halloween postcards intended to serve as a means of empowerment for early middle-class women as has been posited by Daniel Gifford in his American Holiday Postcards, 1905–1915: Imagery and Context (2013). In addition, this study will also illustrate the unspoken fears that troubled these women. Though not limited to the following, these unspoken fears include failing to find love and marriage and failing to keep children at a high level of society. In an effort to emulate the elite-class's tradition of exchanging Christmas and Valentine's Day greeting cards, sending postcards became popular among the middle class during the turn of the century (Shank, 2004). Inexpensive postage and the middle-class's expansion led to a meteoric rise in postcard adoption. As postcards' popularity increased, publishers expanded their offerings to include holidays beyond Christmas and Valentine's Day, including Halloween (Schmidt, 1991; Shank, 2004). The formation of the middle class in the United States coincided with the rise in mass production and mass distribution during early industrialization. Increases in advertising during this time were necessary to create a mass demand for goods while both adjusting to, and encouraging, the surge in production (Hirshon, 2020; Strasser, 2003). Mass production and a demand for conveniences suddenly offered individuals the opportunity to participate in a culture of consumption that previously did not exist (Marchand, 1985; Strasser, 2003). While the middle class is considered the largest class in the United States today, the early middle class was still being culturally defined during the early twentieth century. Continued upward mobility and the drive to emulate the elite class became a prime focus for middle-class Americans. As such, increases in mass production became a way for the middle class to not only imitate the elite-class but was also utilized as a method of self-expression (Paterson, 2006; Shank, 2004; Williams, 2017). With claims “that satisfaction is available across the retail countertop,” early twentieth century advertising was used to both promote an ideology of consumerism and to commoditize the fledgling culture (Ewen, 1989; Wernick, 1988). Promotional culture not only illustrated conspicuous consumption but also the middle-class's class aspirations. Early middle-class women who served as the purchasers in their households began to embrace a new notion of self-expression by filling their homes with wares that both reflected their identities and those of the elite class (Paterson, 2006; Williams, 2017). With the ensuing power struggle taking place between the genders, the country's first sexual revolution threatened to undermine the patriarchal values of the white, middle class (Donovan, 2017; Simmons, 2003). As more women entered the work force and chose not to marry or have children, many feared the demise and decay of the prevailing patriarchal ideals of marriage and child rearing (Simmons, 2003). Marriage, which had evolved to focus on companionate marriage or marriage based on love and intimacy, developed as a way to maintain class boundaries and consolidate the burgeoning middle class (Donovan, 2017; Shank, 2004). Those who opposed women's sexual freedoms pushed marriage as an economic safety net and survival strategy (Simmons, 2003). To reinforce the importance of marriage, the prevailing argument stated that a “woman needed to be protected by a male family member ... [and] required the luxuries that his income could provide” (Cruea, 2005). With a drop in the number of marriages also came a decline in the national birth rate (Donovan, 2017). As children, most notably sons, were expected to carry out their fathers' legacies, social norms called for women to prepare their children to positively impact society (2017). As a result, raising children was considered a nineteenth-century woman's greatest and most fundamental role and accomplishment (Cruea, 2005). With the growth of the middle class and women's new role as consumers, however, the role of mother became threatened. Aiming to imitate the elite class and differentiate itself from the lower class, the newly minted middle class eagerly embraced a lifestyle of conspicuous consumption. Initially considered an elite-class activity, the exchange of holiday greetings or visiting cards consisted of both mailed and hand delivered greeting cards (Shank, 2004). The cost prohibitive nature of greeting cards, however, made them inaccessible for the middle class. At a cost of 1¢ to purchase and 1¢ to mail, postcards were significantly less cost prohibitive than their counterpart greeting cards which cost 3¢ to mail domestically when not hand delivered. Postcards became the more affordable alternative for exchanging Christmas and Valentine's Day greetings as well as a means for the middle class to build social capital (Nicholson, 1994; Shank, 2004). Though postcards served as a way to connect with others, this method of communication was not afforded the same level of privacy as greeting cards. Unlike its predecessor, the greeting card, a postcard was not placed in an envelope. This meant the sender's handwritten message on the back of the postcard as well as the postcard text on the front of the postcard were visible for all to see (Gifford, 2016). This change in communication ultimately put promotional culture in the hands of the consumer public. As Gifford notes, “those that were buying holiday postcards were doing so at a pace that assured their cultural voice was heard—the volume of volume” (2013, p. 149). In essence, the postcard served as a method to promote the unspoken hopes and fears of the middle class. More specifically, the postcard became a way for white, middle-class women to not only disseminate an idealized version of themselves but to also disclose their sociocultural values while establishing the postcard's status as a promotional cultural artifact (Gifford, 2013; Viñao & Ruiz-Funes, 2016; Wernick, 1988). The exchange of postcards during the turn of the century was viewed as an “honorific wasteful expenditure” (Shank, 2004, p. 91). Though this fit the middle class's newly adopted ideology of conspicuous consumption, postcard exchange also served as a means of establishing and solidifying personal and business relationships. The social capital associated with postcard exchange demanded that postcard recipients reciprocate the gesture otherwise be perceived as holding a lower social standing than the sender (Shank, 2004). Essential to the turn of the century promotional culture, postcard exchange aided in deepening the ever-growing competition for status among middle-class Americans (Wernick, 1988). While researchers believe the modern postcard traces its beginnings to 1860s Germany, prior to 1873, postcards could not be mailed in the United States (Shank, 2004; “Greetings from the Smithsonian”). Between 1873 and 1898, postcards mailed in the United States were government-issued, did not include images, and messages could not be written on the address side of the postcard (Gifford, 2013; Shank, 2004; “Greetings”). These postcards harkened back to the earlier trade cards which often served as a marketing tool for businesses (Viñao & Ruiz-Funes, 2016; “Picture Perfect”, 2004; Meikle, 2015). Laden with meaning that advertised goods, the earlier trade cards often epitomized status (Cross, 2013). In 1893, the first souvenir postcard was sold in the United States (“Picture Perfect”, 2004). By May 1898, Congress passed a law allowing privately printed postcards to be mailed at the same 1¢ postage rate as government-issued postcards (Meikle, 2015; Shank, 2004; “Greetings”). This allowed both domestic and foreign publishers to exponentially expand their product lines. By 1900, the New York City post office would process roughly 30,000 postcards per day, (Nicholson, 1994) and by 1905, postcard publishers in the United States began to invest in the equipment necessary to produce higher quality postcards (Shank, 2004). Middle-class values would soon begin to be reflected in postcard illustrations as the communication was utilized to disseminate evolving cultural norms (Shank, 2004). By 1909, postcard sales hit their peak as publishers saw over one billion postcards sold in the United States (Viñao & Ruiz-Funes, 2016). By late-1909, Congress passed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act which increased the cost of importing foreign postcards. The tariff effectively priced the popular German-printed postcards out of the market and the American publishers who lobbied for the tariff's passage were unable to reproduce the same quality as German publishers. By 1910, the postcard market began its decline (Nicholson, 1994). Halloween in the United States traces its roots to several ancient European traditions and the fifth-century BCE Celtic festival Samhain. 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At the of the twentieth women not only began to their place in society but also their and work (Gifford, 2016). The mass adoption of holiday postcard exchange by white, middle-class women how these women saw their and the power structure they had been By exchanging women not only the elite class and themselves from the lower class but also began to the that had them to men the century and earlier (Schmidt, As women became their households' primary began to ways to on their new Though some Halloween as the importance of the and home in holiday saw the holiday as way to their goods (Schmidt, as an extension of this newly the exchange of Halloween postcards as a way to reinforce women's role between the holiday and their households' consumption (Gifford, 2013). holiday and the that not only defined society but more defined the middle class and women's place in that society became necessary for postcard and publishers to the associated and as a communication that was not by an and could be postcards became a way to of the values Strasser, 2003). in to their helped postcards expand the of consumerism and mass consumption as well as women's during the early twentieth century. are the in golden age Halloween postcards as they to white, middle-class women in the early twentieth A of Halloween postcards between and 1920 was utilized for this The of the was to the of the of golden age Halloween postcards The used in this study required the be and These were out the for the by is a that is used to and A of postcards on eBay was used in this As a a is of an of or individuals that is or for The of is Halloween postcards between 1900 and with the postcard this and the were times between and with taking place on May and the was postcards for auction or eBay were by and a of the first Halloween postcards that fit the study was eBay had over Halloween postcards for auction on a was To a postcard served its as promotional only postcards to the United States were in this postcard an 1¢ or as well as a with the and of to the postcard had been mailed and to the of postcards in the Postcards that were in one and in were from the were the consisted of postcards. 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By the twentieth raising children or children at all was not viewed as an for the middle-class As the culture in the United States during the turn of the century prevailing expected women to prepare their children to positively impact society. was that would carry on their fathers' while were how to keep a home in they would marry women were the primary postcard purchasers and made the of holiday postcard the importance of men and the male in society was so that to the number of and and the number of only in golden age Halloween postcards the number of postcards that only (Gifford, 2013). In the middle-class's to emulate the elite-class and differentiate itself from the the turn of the century to keep children at a high level of society. As a result, golden age Halloween postcards children in elite while in This to illustrate the importance of not only children but also them and their place in the of the middle class. as would participate in a during the turn of the middle-class women were on and their and their idealized while not being as age Halloween postcards children as being and and in that that of the higher of society. This is in to the middle-class's to emulate the elite class and differentiate itself from the lower class. 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As cultural artifacts, golden age postcards are emblematic of the values that were introduced and perpetuated the turn of the century promotional culture. More specifically, the postcard became a way for white, middle-class women to disseminate the idealized version of themselves and their The popularity of sending postcards also aided in establishing the postcard's status as a cultural artifact in communication The rise of the middle class, the mass adoption of the and the of Halloween as a holiday that golden age Halloween postcards were not only used to disseminate norms as they to white, middle-class women but also for women to their hopes and As the personal the the and the of those who is the most culture on

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