Esther Howland

Esther Howland (1828–1904) was an artist and entrepreneur who was responsible for popularizing Valentine's Day greeting cards in America.

[3] Shortly after graduating from Mount Holyoke College at the age of 19, Howland received a valentine card from a business associate of her father's.

[citation needed] She made a dozen samples that her salesman brother added to his inventory for his next sales trip[4] for their father's business.

[8] Howland built a thriving business in Worcester, Massachusetts using an assembly line of friends to copy designs and help construct the cards.

[citation needed Howland was in charge of cutting the basic design for the individual valentine while the assembly group was responsible for carefully copying each card.

[1] Her early cards contained short four-line verses pasted inside of them much like earlier English valentines.

[citation needed] Howland eventually sold the business to a competitor, George Whitney, [2] in 1880 in order to take care of her sick father.

"[2] She is credited for the introduction of the "lift-up" valentine, which created layers of texture and color using lace, ribbon, and other materials.

[15] Howland introduced the layering of lace, use of thin paper, three-dimensional accordion effects, and a bouquet in which flowers would move to reveal a verse when pulled by a string.