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.

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.

8 cartons, 2 oversized flat boxes (11 Cubic Feet)

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.

Collection is open for research and is available for use during Book Arts & Special Collections hours.Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance.