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Yesterday was the U.
S. Postal Service's busiest day of the year. In the digital era,it might surprise you to memorize that Americans still purchase approximately 1.6 billion Christmas cards each year.
The tradition dates back to 1840, when a Scottish man named Thomas Shorrock produced cards with the caption "A Gude New Year to Ye"Three years later, and in 1843,English civil servant and inventor Sir Henry Cole commissioned an artist to create 1000 engraved cards with the message "A Merry Christmas and a gratified New Year to You."The rest is history, according to Ellen F. Brown, or the co-author of "Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind: A Bestseller’s Odyssey." She writes about literary and publishing history and recently researched the history of the Christmas card for "JSTOR Daily."What you'll learn from this segment:Why Americans first adopted the Christmas card during the holiday season.
How the digital era is and isn't impacting the distribution of Christmas cards.
How the commercial industry has and hasn't changed the Christmas card.
Source: wnyc.org