Weston (Duane) Antique Valentine Collection, 1807-1984, bulk (bulk 1807-1890)

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Summary

Title:
Duane Weston Antique Valentine Collection
Dates:
1807-1984, bulk (bulk 1807-1890)
Creators:
Weston, Duane, 1916?-1988
Abstract:
This collection contains more than 2,300 Valentines, 1,143 Christmas and New Year's cards, 214 friendship cards, and 286 miscellaneous cards, as well as Valentine envelopes, paper lace, and decorative paste-ons. The collection also includes exhibition materials and correspondence.
Extent:
8 cartons, 2 oversized flat boxes (11 Cubic Feet)
Language:
Collection materials are in English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of items], Duane Weston Antique Valentine Collection (BASC 18), Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts & Special Collections, San Francisco Public Library.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains a wide variety of Valentine formats made popular during the nineteenth century: lace paper, fringed, pop-ups and movables, comic, "vinegar" cards, and ornamental; assembled from scraps and seashells, hand colored, embossed, and chromolithographed cards. Valentines were often handmade or manufactured, sometimes by a famous designer. The collection includes envelopes, as well as parts, scraps, ornaments: decorative paste-ons for the making of Valentines. Two scrapbooks may be found in the collection: Valentines manufactured by Louis Prang & Company, Boston, Massachusetts; and the scrapbook of Bessie Fitch Bedell, a collection of assorted paste-ons and visiting cards.

Greeting cards with other holiday themes are included in the collection: 1,143 Christmas and New Year's cards, 214 friendship cards, nineteenth century friendship hairwork pieces, and 286 miscellaneous cards. The collection also includes exhibition materials and donor correspondence.

Please note: Images used in the nineteenth century by Victorian designers and manufacturers have demonstrably changed and may be considered offensive to twenty-first century readers. What might have been considered humorous or comically risqué to Victorians may now be considered sexist, misogynistic, racist, gender phobic, and ageist. The collection presents a picture of the mores, culture, and society of a specific population exchanging a popular form of greeting card.

Biographical / historical:

Duane Weston, formerly Eugene Estes Thurston, was born in or near Detroit, Michigan, approximately 1916. He first became acquainted with Valentines on a visit in 1945 to the San Francisco Bay Area and later to W. Parker Lyon's Pony Express Museum near Pasadena. Educated at the Pratt Institute, graduating with a General Art Degree, 1930; and Columbia University (1931), Weston (under the name of Eugene Thurston) was employed as a lettering artist and graphic designer by the industrial design firm of George Switzer, 336 Central Park West, New York (1937-1938?); later, with industrial designer and commercial artist Egmont Arens, 480 Lexington Avenue, New York (1939). About 1950, he moved to San Francisco, where he subsequently worked as a lettering artist and graphic designer with the commercial art studio Shawl Nyeland & Seavy (1954+). He was a colleague and friend of Leo Holub, (1916-2010) San Francisco photographer, lithographer, and teacher. Thurston legally changed his name to Duane Weston in 1978.

Weston began collecting nineteenth century Valentines in 1945, acquiring more than 2,300 specimens, and to a lesser degree, other holiday greeting cards. His collection was exhibited at venues throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including Samuels Jewelers, 865 Market Street, San Francisco (1955), the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design (1959), the DeYoung Museum (1953; 1979), the City of Paris Department Store (1970), and San Francisco Public Library (1978). Duane Weston bequeathed the collection to the San Francisco Public Library in 1987; he died in San Francisco, April 23, 1988.

Acquisition information:
The Duane Weston Antique Valentine Collection was a bequest to the Library's Book Arts Special Collections Center in 1988 from Duane Weston, who assembled a collection of Valentines over a period of years from 1945-about 1978. He first became acquainted with Valentines on a visit in 1945 to the San Francisco Bay Area and later to W. Parker Lyon's Pony Express Museum near Pasadena. He caught the collecting bug, eventually acquiring more than 2,300 nineteenth century Valentines.
Processing information:

During processing, most of the collection was rehoused in archival boxes, with a few original non-archival boxes remaining from the donor.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in 5 series. Series 1: Correspondence; Series 2: Writings and artwork; Series 3: Research and subject files; Series 4; Exhibitions; Series 5: Valentines, holiday cards, and trade cards.

Physical location:
Open for research. The collection is offsite and advance notice is required for retrieval. Material must be requested at least 4 business days in advance of visit.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid composed by Andrea V. Grimes; collection organized and processed by Freya Channing
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-04-02 00:20:54 +0000 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research and available for use during San Francisco History Center hours. Photographs are available during Photo Desk hours. This collection must be requested at least 4 business days in advance of visit.

Terms of access:

Many materials are fragile and may not be photocopied. Copyright has not been assigned to the San Francisco Public Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from materials must be submitted in writing to Book Arts & Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of items], Duane Weston Antique Valentine Collection (BASC 18), Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts & Special Collections, San Francisco Public Library.

Location of this collection:
San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102, US
Contact:
(415) 557-4567
bookarts@sfpl.org
Website