Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a privately held, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri.

Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of greeting cards in the United States.

[4] In addition to greeting cards, Hallmark also manufactures such products as party goods, gift wrap, and stationery.

[7] In 1931, the Canadian William E. Coutts Company, Ltd., a major card maker, became an affiliate of Hall Brothers – their first international business venture.

[14] In 1980, Hallmark Cards acquired Valentine & Sons of Dundee, Scotland, one of the world's oldest publishers of picture postcards.

[16] In 1998, Hallmark made a number of acquisitions, including Britain-based Creative Publishing (a recent spinoff of Fine Art Developments), and U.S.-based InterArt.

Forever Friends was purchased in 1994 from English entrepreneur Andrew Brownsword, who for four years subsequently was Chief Executive of Hallmark Europe.

Besides normal food and beverage items, the "Bronco Barn" store also sells Hallmark cards.

[29] "Maxine" is a fictional character featured in a line of greeting cards first published by Hallmark's Shoebox collection in 1986.

[30] The comic strip-style character, portrayed as an irascible older woman, was created by Hallmark in-house artist John Wagner, and in addition to greeting cards has been featured on t-shirts, coffee mugs, holiday ornaments, and other items.

"[31] In the Philippines, singer Richard Tan sang a song about Hallmark Cards, entitled "No One Throws Away Memories".

[33] Neil Armstrong sued Hallmark Cards in 1994 after they used his name and a recording of his quote, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" in a Christmas ornament without permission.

The lawsuit was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of money which Armstrong donated to Purdue University.

The case caused Armstrong and NASA to be more careful about the use of astronaut names, photographs and recordings, and to whom he had granted permission.

Hilton's attorney Brent Blakely said that the infringement damages would be based on profits from the $2.49 greeting cards.

[37][38] The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reviewed the case and "denied Hallmark's motion to dismiss".