FtV - America’s First Christmas Card
New England Legends Podcast
Jeff Belanger
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 14 December 2023
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to New England Legends From the Vault – FtV Episode 37 – In Episode 279 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger head to the Roxbury section of Boston, Massachusetts, searching for the factory that produced America’s first Christmas cards. Back in 1875, Louis Prang took a chance that Americans might want to send Christmas cards like they do in Europe. His risk paid off. Within a few years 5 million cards per year were leaving his Roxbury factory, and sending holiday cards became an institution. Jeff and Ray wish you the happiest of holidays! This episode first aired December 22, 2022.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Happy holidays, everybody. Listen, this is weird. Jeff's not feeling well. So we asked me to set up a From the Vault. We never miss episodes. So it must be pretty bad. Hope you get better soon. Jeff, I know there's something going around and it ain't pretty. I picked an episode from last December. This was our Christmas episode, as a matter of fact. It's all about the history of the Christmas card started right here in massachusetts um it's a fun episode so enjoy before we get to it just a shout out for jeff's book |
| 0:28.0 | the fright before christmas i read it while i was on vacation and it was absolutely fabulous if you can |
| 0:34.1 | find a copy grab it if you know somebody that has one ask if you can borrow it um, grab it. If you know somebody that has one, ask if you can borrow it. |
| 0:39.2 | But read it. Let it soak in. Read it a second time, which I'm going to have to do, because there's so much jam-packed in this book about holiday folklore and legends of Yuletide Past. the names and the holidays and the festivals. |
| 0:57.7 | You're going to need to read it twice, and you'll probably enjoy it even more the second |
| 1:02.1 | time around. |
| 1:02.8 | So I'm looking forward to reading it again. |
| 1:05.0 | Get it wherever you get your books, but might be sold out. |
| 1:09.5 | Oh, there might be a second run. |
| 1:11.4 | Who knows? |
| 1:12.5 | We'll keep you updated on that. |
| 1:13.8 | But if you can find it, grab it while you can. |
| 1:16.3 | So anyway, here is a From the Vault from December 22nd, episode 279. |
| 1:21.6 | Enjoy. |
| 1:26.9 | Music. Hey Ray, what you up to? |
| 1:35.6 | Just writing out some Christmas cards. |
| 1:37.6 | Really? I mean, writing actual cards to people? |
| 1:40.7 | Okay, I'm signing the family photo card that we had printed in bulk online. |
| 1:45.2 | Okay, I get it. You know, some people don't even do that. They just let the online service print |
| 1:49.9 | the card, stuff the envelope, print the address from a spreadsheet right onto the envelope, |
| 1:54.0 | add the stamp, mail it, boom, outsourced holiday cheer. Well, it is the thought that counts, right? |
| 1:58.9 | No, it actually is. And if you can take a |
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