History of Christmas Cards
Christmas Cards by the Decade
1950's
Page Twelve
The greeting card industry expierenced phenomenal growth in the 1950's. Americans began to become more mobile after World War II and hopped in their new and improved cars and spread out over the country. Families kept in touch by sending greeting cards to others across the country. The Christmas cards of the 1950's began to use brighter colors and more joyous themes. Humor had been used in the past but not nearly as much as in the 50's. Funny Santas and reindeer with lighthearted messages were very popular. Mechanical cards were popular with children. Personal photo greeting cards were still popular, especially with families that started this tradition in earlier years. A Christmas card was also produced for the servicemen stationed and fighting in Korea. The 1950's saw the rise in popularity of the "Studio Card", which has been described as a "rather stylish, smartly designed" card that came in "many odd shapes, some lithographed, others in the silk screen process". Some of the companies making these studio cards included: Bresillo's Inc, Carol Cards, Citation cards, Dolphin Design, Encores Inc, Mantice Greetings, Oz Corp., Saya Studio, Shosha Cards, Tanylor Greetings and Vasari Inc. Companies supplying the retail stores included: American Greetings, Brooklyn Art Publishing Co., Dreyfuss Art Co., Fairfield Publishing, Hawthorne-Sommerfield, Sterling Greetings, and Whitman Publishing. Door to door sellers worked for companies such as Artistic Card Co., Chilton Greetings, Doehla Greeting Cards Ins, Messenger Corp., Thomas Doran, and Wallace Brown. In 1950 the Hallmark logo became the company's registered trademark, and in 1954 the company name was officially changed to Hallmark Cards, Inc. Also in 1950, twelve paintings by Winston Churchill were featured on Hallmark Christmas cards. At the same time Joyce Hall was establishing an association with President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Two years later Hallmark produced the first United States Presidential Christmas cards for President and Mrs Eisenhower along with special personal Thank You cards for Mrs Eisenhower. In 1952, illustrations by Saul Steinberg were used on Hallmark cards, as were sentiments by Norman Vincent Peale. With continued growth, the company once agian moved, this time to its current location at 25th and McGee, Kansas City, MO. with about 4,000 employees. Hallmark launched Ambassador Cards in 1959 to serve the mass-distribution market and large computer systems were installed to prccess orders. In 1957, American Greeting introduced its Hi Brows line of cards.
They were a new design, being tall and slim and were inspired by the beatniks and the humorous
cards being made by the Bohemian artist of Greenwich Village. These irreverent and
witty cards helped a young generation share their sentiments with others.
In 1953, Cardigan Press LTD, a commercial printer founded in 1899, begins to publish greeting cards
under a license from Rust Craft of Toronto. Three years later part of the company is purchased by Rust
Craft, with the balance purchased in 1959. Soon after, the name was changed to Rust Craft Greeting Cards
UK LTD. Another business buy-out took place in 1956 when American Greetings, of Cleveland, Ohio,
purchased Carlton Cards. This gave Carlton national exposure and significant increases in its revenues.
View 1950's Gallery 1 BY CLICKING HERE
View 1950's Gallery 2 BY CLICKING HERE
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This folder type card from 1950 has a cut out window on the front cover revealing
the snow covered house on the inside of the card. The front reads "AT Christmas" and
the inside reads "To wish you a Merry Christmas". There is no publisher listed on this card.
