I was sifting through my collection trying! to downsize and came across a box I will share with you. In the 40’s and 50’s in America girls and boys exchanged cards at birthdays, Christmas, Easter and Valentines mainly at school. We always had a Valentine Post Box the class would make a week before Valentines with a slot on the top to mail the cards. With great excitement the box was opened and cards collected with our names on the envelope. We exchanged Valentines with our best friends but I always gave to everyone in the class to be sure no one was missed although the teacher always posted every child in the class one.

I’ve saved all my special cards (Suzy the pack rat)  and in my card pile came across a box I discovered in an Oregon antique shop some years ago which still brings back floods of memories. It is called Tiny Tot Tales 16 Doll-Play Cards with stories for everyone. It is filled with 16 perfect cards with envelopes-old store stock? from the mid 1940’s. I remember getting these cards and how exciting it was. The stories were retold by Corinna Marsh illustrated by Patrie Winston. Each one in the shape of a fairy tale character beautifully illustrated in color folding out to show three pictures with the inside of the card telling the story with space for greetings. 

The illustrator Patrie Winston was a paper doll artist I could find no info on her so perhaps Lorna our paper doll expert can reveal more of her art work but Corinna led a very interesting life I learned from her obituary in the NYTimes. She was born in Manhattan in Dec 12th 1891 was educated at Barnard College which is now connected but still independent to Columbia University. She was the class poet when a student there.
For 40 years she was the head of University Society publishers of educational materials and later in her life she was concerned and wrote about people’s attitudes to old age saying at age 91 ‘Some of us may not see or hear or walk as well as we used to but’ by golly’ we are alert, interested, amused and amusing as well as busy.’ Sounds a lot like many older doll collectors I know I include myself of course!!! Her most successful book was Flippy’s Flashlight published by Dutton in 1958. She passed away aged 98 in 1990.

She is not forgotten I have a box of her cards. Suzy