COLLECTION #162: Valentines and Vintage School Books

I remember so well the excitement and anticipation of Valentine's Day when I was a little girl in grade school. The fun of making or buying cards, picking which ones would go to which person, finding a 'special' one for that little boy I had a crush on, and best of all... receiving a bunch of cute Valentine cards from all of my friends. The process went something like this: bring the signed & sealed Valentines to school on Valentine's Day. Place them all into the special, previously decorated Valentine box or bag. Wait an eternity until time for the Valentine party. Someone who was previously designated as the postman, hands out all the cards, walking around the room, up and down the aisles, torturing us with his or her slowness and capricious way of distribution. Then, when they are all passed out, the opening begins. Some of the cards are handmade, obviously a lot of time and thought went into these cards. (Some children made them themselves due to financial considerations, but in my book, the handmade ones were awesome!) Some cards just had a name scrawled in childish letters on the back. Others might include a little note: "to my best friend", or "I like you". Some weren't signed at all, but had a cryptic message: "guess who?" or "an admirer". In my school it was encouraged for the children to give a card to each student, so that no one would be left out. So, it was rare for a child to go home with fewer than 20-25 cards on Valentine's afternoon. Usually, after the cards were given out, there would be a Valentine's party, complete with pink, heart shaped cookies and punch or milk.

I would gaze at my cards for hours, looking at the cute images of cowgirls, birds, kitties, and the like. One memorable card was from my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Owen, who gave me a Mickey Mouse card. What I loved wasn't the card, but her beautiful handwriting. The way she wrote my name made me feel so special.

Even at that early age, I preferred the cards printed on heavy, matte stock, to the cheaper, shinier cards.

 Since Valentine's Day was celebrated so colorfully at school, I thought it would be fun to feature some of my school books that contain Valentine stories, songs, and activities. I even have one school primer, by Lyons and Carnahan, called Valentine Day. It was published in 1934. I adore the sweet illustrations.

I think one of the reasons I collect vintage Valentines today, is because of those happy school memories. I don't collect sophisticated, grown up romantic cards- only the cute cards designed for school children. They are the happiest cards of all.

COLLECTION #137: Vintage School Science Books

Science was not my favorite subject in grade school. I didn't mind learning about sprouting seeds and magnets in the early elementary school years, but I didn't care much for learning about space travel and beginning physics in the later grades. I did take biology in high school, but avoided physics, chemistry and earth science.

I think I have nearly as many school science books as I do school music books. That is, a LOT! I prefer the early books: seeing sweet illustrations of little children playing in the snow, learning about the seasons; and photos or illustrations of them learning about baby animals or watching seeds grow, just makes me nostalgic for those days gone by.

I'm not going to give you much detail about my books, I'll just post the illustrations and let you draw your own conclusions. I'll insert a note or two when appropriate. These books are from the 1930s to the early 1960s- think it will be obvious to you which books are the oldest. In several cases I have two different versions of the same book- just different publish dates. Often these books have newer, more 'modern' illustrations in the later version. Enjoy!

Sweet pages from the Science Stories, above. These were published by Scott, Foresman, who published the Dick and Jane books. They also published Art Stories.

Later edition of the books shown above.

Awesome illustration from We See, above

The science books are published by Heath, the one on the left is a later edition of the one next to it.

A page from the earlier, 1950s edition.

The same page from the later, early 60s edition.

Science for slightly older children.

Space was a big deal to the children of the Sputnik era

Books for older elementary age children, late 1950s.

A nearly complete set of science books by the Winston Co.

All the books from the series, including the earlier editions.

Love this one... those magnets!!!

It's nice to know that girls can build!

COLLECTION #131: Vintage Lyons & Carnahan Readers

Generally I post my vintage school books on Fridays, but I have something else in mind for tomorrow. So, today I have my vintage Lyons & Carnahan readers to share with you. These books are all from the 1954 publication date of their Developmental Reading Series. As I've said in previous posts, although the Dick and Jane readers are what most people think of when they think of these mid-20th century readers, many other companies besides Scott, Foresman & Co. successfully published school books of every type. Lyons & Carnahan had many wonderful readers, health books, and social studies books that were every bit as beautifully done as the Dick and Jane books.  Most of these particular books were licensed to the state of California as part of their California State Series books. (Since I live in California, these are the ones I'm most likely to find in my area.)

The 'heroes' of the early primer and pre-primer books were Jane, Billy and Ann. (Simple names, similar to Dick, Jane and Sally). The illustrations are lovely, and they are beautifully designed and well written.

I hope you enjoy my sweet little readers!

COLLECTION #106: Bob and Judy Readers

 As I have mentioned in earlier posts, many textbook publishing companies competed with the Dick and Jane Readers of the 1940s, and Lyons and Carnahan Publishing Company was no exception. Lyons & Carnahan published many wonderful, high quality and interesting readers, health books, and social studies books throughout the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s.  The heroes of their early reader books were Bob and Judy, two adorable siblings. Bob was the big brother, with a shock of dark hair. He was sturdy, athletic, and responsible. Judy was the little sister: curly blonde hair, and was adventurous and sweet. The green books above were all printed in the late '30s.

I have a number of books from Lyons & Carnahan's Guidance in Reading Series and Basic Reading Program. Many of these publishers had more than one reading series of books... some were basic readers, others were advanced, and others for children who needed extra help in reading. Each of these reading series had a different name, and I really haven't been able to find out too much about the different series and what makes them different. I have an almost complete set of these books, all that's missing is the fifth grade reader.

I also have a couple of later editions of two of the books. The insides are identical, only the covers have been changed. The later ones were published in the early '40s.

I love the end papers of each of these books... they are all different. I have a few photos of some of these to show you:

Here are some other illustrations:

COLLECTION #96: Vintage School Readers and Workbooks

We called them "Think and Do Books", (which was actually the registered name of the Scott, Foresman and Company workbooks) they were the soft-covered books that accompanied our readers and other books, which we could actually write and draw in. Heaven forbid if we made so much as a pencil mark in our precious readers! Most of these books were thrown away when they were filled out, so it's always fun to find one of these today, especially one that hasn't been written in. (Actually, it doesn't bother me a bit to find one that has been written in because it's such a little window into someone's life to see their writing and coloring!)

Here are a few of the workbooks I've found, for which I have corresponding readers.  These are all from the late '40s, and '50s.  I've included a few of the inside pages, because they are so charming. The Many Surprises workbook is actually one edition earlier than the reader, but I've included the illustration of the monkey on the cover of the workbook.

The Many Surprises is a first grade
reader, published by Lyons and
Carnahan.



Both Around the Corner (second grade) and Trails to Treasure (fifth grade) were published by Ginn and Company.

They are wonderful readers and workbooks, full of fun stories and great illustrations. The workbooks are interesting, challenging, and fun to look at.