A. Hays Town in the Cabinet

Company, cousins, home cooking, and conversation, ingredients for a satisfying evening of reconnecting with people and stories long missed. My cousin Evelyn sets a table that many look forward to, none more than myself. Stuffed salmon and broccoli salad, my mouth waters.

In the den with coffee later, talk turned to Louisiana architect A. Hays Town and a book of his sketches, The Architectural Style of A. Hays Town. My cousins were longtime friends of Mr Hays and his family, and for many years were involved in his building, providing the millwork for dozens of his projects. Our conversation took an intriguing turn when Evelyn told us a story that ended with a treasure revealed.

A painting done to commemorate a trip down Bayou Teche in 1919. The steamboat is the Suwannee, a lumber boat of the Williams Lumber Company.

In conversation one day, Mr Town mentioned to his millwork consultant (Evelyn’s husband) that he had for some years been painting pictures as a hobby. His remark was something along the lines of, “I’ve been painting these pictures—memories of childhood—the past few years and don’t have anything to do with them. Think I’ll use the pictures for my Christmas cards.”

Evelyn said she had a stack of Christmas cards from A. Hays Town, and for a moment there my mouth hung open. A few minutes later she brought out from a cabinet eleven of those cards and for the next half hour we pored over the cards, the images and the handwritten seasonal wishes of Christmases past from the architect-painter.

This painting shows a house with chimney somewhere along the bayou.

A top of the line Nikon camera would have been ideal, but with nothing more than an iPhone and ordinary lighting I started clicking the shutter.

Some of the cards include no information about the cover image and that omission leaves the what, where and when to guesswork.

A few of the personal notes inside the cards

When Mailbags Get Heavy

Long before the idea of illustrated Christmas cards were the custom, most people sent their greetings in handwritten notes or letters. Chances are good that in those days postmen worldwide had a lot less Christmas season work than they do today. At a time when commercial cards were not an option, it’s a good bet that handwritten greetings during the holiday season were not something that a majority indulged in. Still, even before the appearance of commercially printed cards, homemade Christmas cards had become a nightmare for the US postal service. In 1822 the Superintendent of Mails in Washington D.C. complained of the need to hire extra mailmen, going as as far as petitioning Congress to limit the exchange of cards by post. It only worsened for the post office and its mailmen in the years to come.

The poem inside this folded card from 1932 reads:

Across a bridge of pleasant thought

This old greeting will stray

They bring the same old-fashioned words

We like so well to say.

Christmas cards designed for sale were first created by a London artist, John Calcott Horsley, commissioned by a wealthy businessman in 1843 to create a greeting card he could send to friends and professional acquaintances wishing them a “merry Christmas.” Horsley’s design was in the form of a triptych, with each side panel illustrating the good deeds of clothing or feeding the poor. The center panel depicted a party enjoyed by children and adults, with a display of plentiful food and drink. Words on the card read: “A Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year To You.” At the time ‘merry’ had a spiritual connotation implying ‘blessed.’

John Calcott Horsley’s 1843 Christmas Card

In no time, printed Christmas cards became the rage in England, spreading quickly to Germany. For some reason, it took another thirty years for Americans to pick up the idea. A Boston lithographer named Louis Prang began printing Christmas cards in 1875, earning the title of “Father of the American Christmas Card.” Americans took to printed cards, but in short time rejected Prang’s floral designs, choosing instead cheap penny Christmas postcards imported from Germany. These remained popular until the end of World War I when America’s modern greeting card industry took off.

This Norwegian card from 1942 was forbidden by the Nazis.

Christmas is the card industry’s peak season, and within the US alone more than two billion cards are exchanged. Faced with this number—or even imagining it— Washington D.C.’s Superintendent of Mails in 1822 would have gone stark raving insane.

A 1914 Christmas Greeting to men in the trenches

A modern card with 50s tropical-bizarre flavor