The Greeting Card: From Papyrus Scrolls to Digital Cards

Made of cardboard with printed images or text, greeting cards are inexpensive ways of expressing concern for other people. Greeting cards have become quite common objects in the lives of people, that even the digital virtual world has weighed in. Did you ever wonder how humans began to exchange notes to express sympathy or other sentiments? How simple cards can mean the world through the power of words?

The act of writing down one's sentiments in the form of greeting notes can be traced back to ancient Egypt. Historians believe that ancient Egyptians wrote greetings on papyrus scrolls that are received by messengers and passed on to their addressees.

During the early 1400s, handmade paper cards with greetings on them passed around in Europe, while the Germans, in particular, used woodcuts as greeting cards.  Around the mid-1400s, exchanging handmade Valentine cards began; in fact, the oldest Valentine still in possession is preserved in the British Museum.

It wasn't until the 1850s that companies started mass producing cards, mainly due to the technological breakthroughs of the printing press and postal services. Today, even though cards are increasingly being sent through the Internet, many people still buy a card from a store.

So next time you pick out a card for someone you appreciate, take a moment to  acknowledge just how far your humble greeting card has changed through time.