The company's first Valentine's Day cards appeared on store shelves in 1916. Hallmark's first greeting cards in 1915 were printed text and line images made from steel die engravings. A hand-fed press would produced between 500-700 cards per hour. The images were than hand-painted, which each artist adding a color.

Hallmark first offered Valentine's Day cards in 1913 and began producing them in 1916.

And so, whilst Hallmark didn't invent the occasion, greetings card companies certainly profit from this age-old celebration.

Exchanging handmade Valentine's Day cards probably began in America in the early 1700s. Manufactured cards appeared as early as the 1830s. After this time, the availability of paper and a universal postal system made valentines more accessible to the masses.

He was intrigued by the word “hallmark” used by goldsmiths as a mark of quality. Mr. Hall liked that it not only said quality, but also included his family name. So, in 1928, the company began marketing its brand by using the Hallmark name on the back of every card.

In addition, Hallmark movies appeal to viewers' sense of nostalgia for the holidays; as Lin noted, “The holidays run on nostalgia and things that make people happy, and Hallmark movies give people that.” Because little has changed about Hallmark movies since its first film was released and every program aims to capture ...

In the United States, a Hallmark holiday is a holiday that is perceived to exist primarily for commercial purposes, rather than to commemorate a traditionally or historically significant event.

Hallmark estimates about 145 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged each year. And while Hallmark has become the go-to name for special gifts, they aren't the ones who started the fad. The American Folk Art Museum says fertility-related customs and rituals have been celebrated in mid-February since pagan times.

The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary recorded the celebration of the Feast of Saint Valentine on February 14. The day became associated with romantic love in the 14th and 15th centuries when notions of courtly love flourished, apparently by association with the "lovebirds" of early spring.

In the United States, a Hallmark holiday is a holiday that is perceived to exist primarily for commercial purposes, rather than to commemorate a traditionally or historically significant event.

145 million Valentine's Day cards According to the Greeting Card Association and Hallmark, roughly 145 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged each year.

The Oldest known Valentines message in the English Language is also at the British Library, written in Norfolk more than 500 years ago, the love letter dates to 1477 and was from Margery Brews to her fiance John Paston. Most that survive in the Hull Museums collection are Victorian in date (1837-1901).