Mother's Day Sentiments from 100 Years Ago Might Make Your Mother Pale Today

Cleveland, Ohio – May 2, 2007 – A 21st-century mother might grow pale and wonder where she had gone wrong if she received a Mother’s Day card saying “ ‘Mother’s Day.’ What sweet remembrance mingles with its happy thought, like fragrant breath of Maytime, by the smiling flowers brought.” On Mother’s Day, today’s sons and daughters say it with flowers, candy, gifts and perhaps a card with a line or two of verse. But years ago, mothers treasured sentimental mottoes on embroidered samplers and framed prints. The Victorian home had framed perforated cardboard samplers stitched in wool with the motto “What Is Home Without Mother”. The 1920s home would hang a “gift motto,” a framed print picturing an idealized mother surrounded by sweet children in colonial dress and a poem, “….Who is everybody’s friend, The greatest gift that Heaven can send? Why, Mother!”

The Buzza Company, founded in Minneapolis in 1907, was the first big maker of gift mottoes, framed lithographs with pleasant pictures and syrupy verses on family, friendship, religion, patriotism, and other topics. For Mother, Buzza mottoes expressed mushy sentiments like “No love like Mother Love ever has shone. No other worship abides and endures, Faithful, unselfish and patient like yours”; and “God sent the birds and sunshine, to gladden all the world. He sent the foliage and flowers in radiance unfurled. He sent the June, the stars, the moon, the pearly dewdrops sweet. And then He sent you Mother dear, to make it all complete.” Very popular in the 1920s and ’30s, but not like popular cards today with sentiments like Hallmark’s “Mom, You always said, ‘Someday, you'll thank me.’ And as usual, you were right! Thanks! (Love you!) Happy Mother’s Day!” or “Just for you. Happy Mother’s Day!”

It might be fun to surprise Mother this year with a framed vintage, Buzza-type motto. They can still be found online and at antique shops and shows for about $20-$40.

For more information on antique Buzza prints and other vintage Mother’s Day gifts, Ralph and Terry Kovel are available for interviews with accredited media outlets. To contact the Kovels send an email to hmakela@kovels.com . Please include your phone number in your correspondence if you would like to talk to the Kovels.

Contact Info:
H. Makela
hmakela@kovels.com

About the Kovels
Ralph and Terry Kovel are the authors of more than 95 books about collecting and antiques, including the best-selling annual “Kovels’ Antiques and Collectibles Price List.” Hailed by Parade magazine as "the duke and duchess of the antiques world," the Kovels publish Kovels on Antiques and Collectibles (an award-winning newsletter) and write a syndicated weekly newspaper column distributed to more than 150 newspapers. They appeared weekly on the HGTV program Flea Market Finds with the Kovels. Their popular website with free price information is www.kovels.com. The Kovels' next book is “Kovels' American Collectibles, 1900 to 2000,” to be published by Random House in July.

Contact Information:
hmakela@kovels.com

This release was published on openPR.