What's Inside the Greeting Cards?

As part of our management of potential light damage to objects, greeting cards that had been on long-term display in the Making Sense of Our Lives display in the museum were returned to store, for a rest in the dark. Exposure to too much light for too long can cause permanent damage to objects, particularly to light sensitive materials such as paper. Colours will fade and the material from which the object is made of will start to break down.

Greeting cards that have been in our stores have now taken the place of the previous ones. While taking them down, I noted how fascinating the insides or reverse of the cards were and yet they had never been seen by all the visitors who had viewed the display. Here I have captured what can be found inside or on the back of the cards in the new display, so visitors will be able to view all aspects of the objects. (Those that are not featured below did not feature anything inside or on the back)

1 - This card seems to say: David’s love. It was printed by Publishers to Her Majesty the Queen. It was part of the same donation as the Williamson family cards below.

2 - This is 1 of 12 cards found under the floorboards of a house in Rodborough. We don’t know who Alice or Lily were.

3 - Archibald Marsh of Leonard Stanley was 25 years old when World War One broke out. Prior to that he had been working as a driver with Godsells Brewery. In the war he served as a lorry driver in the Army Service Corps from 1914 - 1919. This card was probably sent while he was on active service, to his wife Beatrice (nee Ireland) who he married in 1917. It is part of an archive of material about the couple and their wider family.

4 - Although an image of cats dressed in wigs or wearing dresses and holding fans, might not represent Christmas in our minds, it was popular in Victorian times to send cards depicting animals doing human activities.

5 - Postcard addressed to Reay Visger, son of Captain Charles Visger OBE. One of various documents in the collection relating to the Visger family.

6 - Another Christmas postcard from the Duncan Young collection.

7 - Nellie Williamson was a relative of Kate Williamson, whose wedding dress is displayed in the same room as this card. This address is where Kate’s parents lived, so Nellie could possibly be her sister.

8 - Postcard addressed to Joan Visger, daughter of Captain Charles Visger OBE and sister to Reay, recipient of the card above. One of various documents in the collection relating to the Visger family.

9 - Mr and Mrs. J. Williamson are most likely relatives of Kate Williamson, whose wedding dress is displayed in the same room as this card.

11 - This is 1 of 2 identical menu cards for the Christmas dinner of 24 Squadron (South African Air Force) in 1944. Flight Sergeant Denis Gubbins kept a blank version which is on display and this one which features signatures of his fellow airmen.

Denis Gubbins from France Lynch was mobilised to fight in World War Two in March 1943 at only 18 years old. He was initially stationed in England but in February 1944, travelled on the ship Monowai to Egypt. In April he was transferred to Palestine and in June arrived in Italy where he remained for the rest of his active service. In July 1944 following completion of his training, he became part of 24 Squadron and was deployed as a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner on a bomber crew flying on a Marauder aircraft out of Pescara in Italy. In December 1944 he was transferred to Jesi in Italy, where the Christmas meal took place.

On 21st April 1945 he and his crew were killed in action. He was 20 years old. That same day he’d written a letter to his parents saying he had only 30 hours left to fly and that his tour would be over by May. He is buried in Padua War Cemetery in Italy.

12 - 1 of 3 handmade cards decorated with beautiful ink drawings inside and out.

15 - 1 of 2 Christmas cards in the collection made by Marling & Evans Ltd, the other featuring a lamb and flag, a symbol related to the patron saint of the Weavers Guild.

16 - The inside of this menu card reveals the signatures of B C Jacksons fellow airmen, signed at a Christmas meal in 1949. Jackson was stationed at RAF Habbaniya, a base 60 miles from Baghdad in Iraq.

20 - Inside this War Savings Christmas card we can see the places where National Savings stamps would go and a description of how the stamp scheme works and how they are “a gift that helps to win the war”.

Fern Ryan, Documentation and Collections Assistant