Civil War Envelopes
Publication of Civil War envelopes began as early as the mid-1850's, when
north-south divisions began to take shape, but ended prior to the war's
conclusion because most believed that it was too indulgent and expensive
to continue production in a time of war. These Civil War envelopes, some
of which have been called early versions of pictorial postcards, were very
popular with collectors of patriotic propaganda. The subjects illustrated
on these envelopes varied from the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy, to
caricatures of important war heroes. Though popular with collectors, these
envelopes are a very underutilized source of Civil War iconography.
The majority of the envelopes are about 3 x 5" in size, and were published
in nearly all of the major cities, with New York and Boston being the
largest producers. They were first created for use in the mail, as the
production of envelopes became faster and easier. In the Confederacy,
paper had become scarce during the war, which prompted Southerners to turn
to reusing wallpaper and book pages to create envelopes, as well as turn
envelopes inside out to reuse them.
The American Antiquarian Society's collection of Civil War envelopes is a
nice representation of the various styles and political themes that were
popular during the Civil War era. The decorations on these envelopes are
done in every way imaginable: hand-colored, printed, engraved, embossed,
etc. Sometimes the illustration was small and in one corner on the front
of the envelope, and other times covered both sides and included a poem or
stanzas from a song.
The collection includes envelopes with illustrations of flags, Coat of
Arms, various poses of patriotic women and men, portraits of war-time
figures, and caricatures of animals and war themes. There are a total of
eight boxes, that include approximately 4100 envelopes, as well as a
notebook of cut-outs from other Civil War envelopes, and a Union and
Pacific Album Illustrated Envelope Holder, published in Boston in
1861. The envelopes are alphabetized and arranged by topic. About half of
the collection has been cataloged and is available through the
American
Broadsides and Ephemera, Series I collection.
-Terri Tremblay, Assistant Curator of Graphic Arts
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A battle scene is depicted on this envelope printed in New York
A Southern envelope picturing Jefferson Davis
* Civil War
Envelopes inventory
For current information on the cataloging status of this and
other AAS collections, choose "Collection Access" below.
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