Join us at the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building on Saturday February 8, 2025, to celebrate love and friendship in the run up to Valentine’s Day. Activities during the drop-in program (10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) are primarily designed for kids and their families, but all ages are welcome. The event is free of charge, although you will need free building passes. A limited number of walk-up tickets are available on the day, but registering in advance is the best way to guarantee entry at your preferred time. Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at 202-707-6363 or by emailing [email protected].
During February’s Family Day, we invite you to create cards for crushes, friends, and loved ones using Library images, or to pen a note for our Valentine’s Day communal message board. Colleagues from the Prints and Photographs Division (P&P) will be on hand to show how the holiday is represented in their collections and to talk about their work. Some of the items they’ll be discussing at Family Day are not yet available on the Library’s website, so this will be a rare opportunity to learn about several real gems in P&P holdings.
Join in from Home
If you can’t make it to Family Day in person, we’ve got you covered. Read on for Library resources about Valentine’s Day, crafting ideas, love-related lore and more to help you celebrate those dear to you.
Library blog posts and web pages include a wealth of historical information connected to this sweetest of holidays:
- If you’re curious about the origins of Valentine’s Day, this piece provides plenty of answers.
- February is the perfect month to celebrate a love story. Read about letters documenting the relationship between musical theater composer Jerome Kern and his wife-to-be Eva Leale.
- Discover the story of Esther Howland, who founded the New England Valentine Company in the mid-1800s, popularizing the exchange of Valentine’s Day cards in the United States.
- Find ideas for making homemade cards and gifts using Library collections in Sweet Ideas for Valentine’s Day.
Digitized books offer an old-school look at this time of year:
- The Party Book (1922) includes a mix of ideas for decorations and costumes for several holidays, including Valentine’s Day.
- The recipes in Catering for Special Occasions with Menus and Recipes (1911) may not suit modern tastes, but the book is worth a look for the adorable little cherub chefs pictured throughout. The Valentine’s Day section is on pages 27 – 49.
- The Children’s Party Book (1923) offers suggestions for games and recipes for a Valentine’s Day party. See images 9-11.
- Pages 15 – 21 of Holiday-Time Stories (1930) feature a charming love story set in Kitchen-town, in which all the residents help Pealey Knife express his feelings for Prongey Fork.
As always, the Library’s digitized newspaper collection is a treasure trove of quirky articles and viewpoints from days gone by:
- Read about the oldest Valentines in existence in a piece published in The Spanish Fork Press in 1910.
- The history of the holiday is outlined in a 1916 issue of the Burlington Free Press.
- A three-page article from the 1959 Evening Star about changing tastes in Valentine’s Day cards mentions examples in Library of Congress collections.
- This children’s page from a 1925 issue of The Milwaukee Leader includes Valentine’s Day stories and rhymes.
We look forward to welcoming you to the Library if you are in the neighborhood on February 8. Wherever you are, and however and with whomever you celebrate this year, we wish you a very happy Valentine’s Day!
Springfield, Missouri 2020. Prints and Photographs Division.