Birthdays (Group G)
Birthday Celebrations
Celebrating another year of life is nothing new to society, and the practice can be traced back all the way to the Ancient Romans. This celebration of life is meant to be a joyous time where family and friends all come together to commemorate the coming of age of a person. Thankfully, even if being together physically is not possible, technology has advanced in ways that allow humans to feel as if they are together in these celebrations- but this was not always the case. Throughout the early 1900s, family members and friends who wanted to celebrate birthdays but were not physically present had to rely on birthday cards and telegrams to send their congratulations. Jewell Cooper was lucky enough to have received both of these forms of congratulations, and she saved them in her scrapbook which kept them in pristine condition. The birthday card featured to the left was sent by O. Larson, an unknown person who is thought to have been a friend of Cooper's. The letter he sent Cooper for her birthday included the colorful card which folds out to become a pop-up cross-walk. There are several images on the card that show a man in a police uniform holding several different "stop" and "go" signs, with creative writing underneath each of the signs to send a special message about the recipient's birthday. It is not known whether there was money included in the card or not, as the envelope included in the scrapbook was empty besides the card. Greeting cards have been used throughout history to commemorate holidays, birthdays, graduations, and many other celebrations, and exploded in popularity in the late 19th century. Due to global widespread industrialization, families had more disposable income to spend on things such as greeting cards, so it became a norm for families who were apart to send cards commemorating holidays and birthdays whenever it was not possible to be together.
Birthday Celebrations cont.
Along with birthday cards sent to young adults away from home in college, another common practice in the early 20th century was for family and/or friends to send telegrams. This practice is very similar to sending greeting cards, but the message was completely written by the sender, whereas birthday cards are pre-printed with writing. Telegrams were an easy way to send money to the recipient as well, should the sender want to include that as a birthday gift. It is clear that Cooper received many telegrams and immortalized them in her scrapbook, and a few of them (like the one pictured to the left) had personal messages on them about Cooper's birthday. This one, sent by someone named Benny, included the message "Happy birthday letter follows with all latest dope with love, Benny." This concise message was sufficient for Cooper to know that her family and friends away were thinking of her, and there was more likely than not money included in the telegram. The act of giving birthday presents can be traced back to the Ancient Romans as well, where they would consume large amounts of wine and feast in celebration of the birthday of friends and family. This evolved into everyone getting together in these celebrations, and then to people bringing gifts to the person they were celebrating. This practice has continued throughout history, and although specific traditions are vastly different in different cultures, the premise of celebrating someone on their birthday has widely continued.
Works Cited:
Association, Greeting Card. “About Greeting Cards- General Facts.” About the Industry, web.archive.org/web/20131224113218/www.greetingcard.org/AbouttheIndustry/tabid/58/Default.aspx.
Bond, Sarah. “The History of the Birthday And The Roman Calendar.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 3 Oct. 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/drsarahbond/2016/10/01/the-history-of-the-birthday-and-the-roman-calendar/#654ffd767bdc.
Merelli, Annalisa. “How the Humble Greeting Card Continues to Thrive in the Digital Age.” Quartz, Quartz, 23 Dec. 2016, qz.com/859706/the-history-of-christmas-greeting-cards-from-the-victorian-britain-to-the-internet/.
“When Did People Start Giving Birthday Presents?” HistoryExtra, 13 Aug. 2019, www.historyextra.com/period/roman/birthday-presents-history-gifts-presents-why-who-invented/.