The Marketplace of Hearts

In the early 20th century women controlled an important aspect of culture that frequently overlapped with holidays—shopping. In magazines and books, the place of shopping in a woman's life seemed to be taking on greater and greater importance. As department stores flourished and became temples to consumerism, woman were placed in the center of their outreach and narratives. Women were entering the modern era as a group increasingly catered to and empowered with choices, at least within the marketplace of goods.1

Women held power; a man's happiness was entirely up to women's wise decision making

This narrative of control and choice likewise found its way into postcards, particularly around Valentine’s Day. As Ellen Gruber Garvey illustrates, period narratives of shopping and courtship had become quite intertwined by the early 20th century. Magazines in particular advanced descriptions of women wisely picking among suiters as they would among cereal products. “In this reformulated vision of the marriage market,” Garvey writes, “women held power; a man’s happiness was entirely up to women’s wise decision making.”1

Valentine’s Day in particular invited near-literal interpretations of the marriage market metaphor. In a frequent trope, cupids engaged in the business of evaluating, selecting, and purchasing hearts. Although typically asexual in design and depiction, these cupids were coded with gendered elements that emphasized the woman’s role as shopper/selector. In this amusing image the cupid holds a pair of opera glasses over the hearts as she examines them, while the proprietor cupid motions with outstretched hands to emphasize the number of choices. In fact, with only seven hearts to chose from, this particular card is comparatively paltry to others. Within the same genre, hearts are depicted stacked high in baskets or five-deep on the table. Women were thus invited not only to image choices, but overwhelming choices, within the market of love.

Interesting too within this motif is the nature of the commercial enterprise. Although sometimes set inside a store--the interior counter and cash register (or scale) in sight--the more common manifestation of the theme was as an outdoor market stall or stand. Based on what the research tells us about postcard audiences, such a rendering makes sense from two particular vantage-points. For rural consumers, the outdoor market was a familiar stage, perhaps even more than the interior store which could also be read as potentially urban. There is nothing urban about the tables and stands surrounded by green grass and flowers in these cards. Also, the market further emphasized the feminine role of shopper.

The open market was understood to be a feminine gendered space, particularly as it served the domestic-oriented daily task of food shopping. Women who bought food to prepare and place on the table were also bringing that ritual of choice to the marketplace of courtship. Thus Ellen Clapsaddle’s card showing a girl buying a heart from what would otherwise appear to be a produce vendor (laden basket, umbrella stand, hanging displays) also emphasizes the roll of the marketplace: “This heart on sale; tells love’s sweet tale.”

 

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