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President Roosevelt holds a valentine that depicts the “Senate” trying to lasso Roosevelt who holds an “etiquette on international arbitration” scroll. The words on the valentine say, “There’s no use tryin’ to lasso us with a great big whoop and a lot o’fuss with our rope in the air we charge for fair and we’re never afraid of the ‘big stick’ scare.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-14
An old man labeled “St. Valentine,” carrying a “U.S. Mail” letter pouch, delivers valentines to “Col. W.D. Mann,” John A. “McCall,” Henry H. “Rogers,” John D. Rockefeller Jr., John D. “Rockefeller,” “Son McCurdy,” Edward L. “Hamilton,” and Richard “Pat McCurdy.” Caption: St. Valentine — Don’t be afraid to take ’em, boys. They’re valentines; not subpoenas.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1906-02-14
At center a valentine card features President Roosevelt as Cupid. Around the outside are other valentines featuring two European leaders, American industrial and political figures, a Russian admiral, a writer identified only as “Tom,” and a Wall Street con artist.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1905-02-08
Uncle Sam sits in a chair with three putti or cupids handing him valentine cards that state “Assistance and Sympathy during the Spanish-American War.” The cards have come from “England,” “Germany,” and “Russia.” Caption: Uncle Sam — I didn’t know I had so many friends till I won that fight!
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1902-02-12
Senator Aldrich is shown delivering a valentine to President Roosevelt from the Standard Oil Company.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-02-14
President Roosevelt thanks Russell N. McAlister for the valentine. He thinks McAlister is a good boy and hopes he will become “a good and useful man.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-15
President Roosevelt holds his big stick and points at a large heart that includes his face, which gets progressively smaller for each line of text. Caption: “If of me you’d cease to think my heart would shrink and shr-r-rink and shr-r-r-r-ink.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-13
The bust portrait of “Miss Africa” appears over a heart on a Valentine’s card that states “Will You Be My Valentine?”, with two black putti.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1909-02-10
Former president Benjamin Harrison holds a bouquet of flowers and has a floral garland around his neck that Cupid has used to lasso him. In a poem, Cupid says, “I’ll help the boom of the happy groom, as his party’s Valentine.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1896-02-12
At center, Uncle Sam and President Cleveland shake hands, with a portrait of Liliuokalani, Queen of Hawaii, in the background. The surrounding vignettes feature a cast of characters, identified or referred to in the text as “Croker,” “Parkhurst,” and “Tammany” reform, “Iago Manley” and “Othello Reed,” “Peffer, Lease, Dana, Pulitzer, [and] Depew,” Harrison sitting in his over-sized top hat, and Thomas Collier Platt turning a crank that manipulates George R. “Malby” as “Speaker” of the New York State Assembly, David B. Hill sitting in an over-sized “Senatorial Chair N.Y. State,” and “McKinley” dressed as Napoleon I, riding a “War Tariff” rocking horse. Each scene includes “Valentine” text, such as this for “Peffer” and “Lease,” each holding papers labeled “Speech”: “From bleeding Kansas’s wind-swept plains, / Where whiskers take the place of brains, / You come with all your verbose strength / Of speeches of unending length. / Here, take the hint Puck gives – resign! / Let Mary be your Valentine”; and this for McKinley: “McKinley Bill! McKinley Bill! / Why do you ride that hobby still? / The cause of pool, combine and trust, / And idle mill-wheels red with rust. / Mistaken Man! We’ll never pine / For you to be our Valentine.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1894-02-14
President McKinley stands at center holding a large cornucopia and emitting rays labeled “Prosperity,” while around him are vignettes showing people from all walks of life – doctors, cabbies, club men, real estate agents, actors, nobility seeking rich American wives, tramps, children, and old maids, even “The Hungry Heathen” – all with valentine wishes for McKinley and the hope of prosperity for themselves.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1897-02-17
A young man and woman ride in an airplane. The man has his arm around the woman’s waist. Below them, angels trumpet a diamond-studded number “7.” Caption: A tour for St. Valentine’s Day. Saint Valentine Number.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1912-02-07
A young woman juggles hearts in celebration of Valentines Day.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1911-02-08