The Hallmark Corporation has recorded significant moments in its history with the use a 100-year Timeline on its website. This is the first entry on the Hallmark Timeline:
“On January 10, 1910, 18-year-old Joyce Clyde Hall from Nebraska steps off a train in Kansas City, Mo. equipped with little more than two shoeboxes filled with a trendy new product, postcards – and his entrepreneurial spirit. He moves into the YMCA, where he runs his wholesale postcard business until the YMCA complains about the large mail volume.”
That was the beginning of Hallmark Cards, Inc., a name that is about as well-known as any among American corporations today. A story such as this speaks volumes about the opportunities that have existed throughout our nation’s history for the citizens of our country. With enough ingenuity and fortitude, entrepreneurs have been able to go from the humblest of beginnings all the way up to the attainment of huge financial success in the corporate world.
The Hallmark Timeline on their website is presented through a series of brief highlights from each decade of the company’s history. As America changed, the Hallmark greeting card line changed right along with it.
A few of the historical moments from the Hallmark Timeline
1911: J.C. is joined in Kansas City by his older brother, Rollie, a successful traveling salesman, and together they found Hall Brothers. Their brother William joins the company several years later.
1912: The postcard fad starts to wane as people tire of the mailman knowing all their business. Hall Brothers answers that consumer need by adding greeting cards (with envelopes) to their wholesale line.
1915: J.C. turns a devastating fire into an opportunity. Hall Brothers purchases engraving presses and begins printing and publishing cards of its own.
1932: Hall Brothers licenses the rights to use Disney characters on greeting cards. The first card to come from the collaboration was The Three Little Pigs.
1935: As the Great Depression causes hardship across the nation, J.C. Hall starts a “milk break” for his employees, sharing the surplus produced by his dairy herd with his employees.
1944: The company produces greeting card display fixtures. Also that year, the “When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best” slogan is created.
1947: Storybook Doll cards are introduced.
1948: Fine art reaches the American people through Hallmark Gallery Artists, a line of cards reproducing the work of artists like Grandma Moses, Saul Steinberg, Andrew Wyeth, and Salvador Dali.
1949: The original design of the enduring Hallmark Signature and Crown logo was created.
1951: The series of television broadcast specials that will become the Hallmark Hall of Fame begins with Amahl and the Night Visitors. Also that year, at J.C. Hall’s request, Norman Rockwell paints “The Kansas City Spirit” to symbolize Kansas City’s efforts to battle back from a devastating flood in that same year.
1953: President and Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower send the first United States Presidential Christmas cards, and Hallmark has the honor of creating and producing them. Hallmark also creates custom thank-you cards and gift wrap for Mrs. Eisenhower.
1960: Charles Schulz’s Peanuts® characters first appear on Hallmark greeting cards and partyware.
1967: Jigsaw puzzles become a playful new piece of Hallmark with the acquisition of Springbok Editions.
1973: Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments are introduced.
1978: Hallmark is inspired by the energy crisis of the 1970s to start an employee van pool program at headquarters.
1986: Shoebox Greetings launches.
1991: A new line of Spanish-language greeting cards is introduced.
1995: Jewish consumers express a need for cards designed specifically for their lives, and Hallmark answers with the new Tree of Life line, celebrating Jewish holidays and culture.
1999: Hallmark first aligns itself with Susan G. Komen for the Cure® in support of breast cancer research, education and treatment, when the company launches its Cards for the Cure® program in Hallmark Gold Crown stores. Since its inception, Hallmark Cards for the Cure has raised more than $2.7 million for the cause.
2001: The Hallmark Channel launches in the United States.
2006: UNICEF products are available through Hallmark. Also that year, Cards With Sound are introduced.
2009: Hallmark Mobile Greetings are introduced.
These are but a few of the highlights on the Hallmark Timeline. Hallmark includes information on its Timeline about the dates that many of its products were introduced, when business alliances were formed, and when company management changes took place. By viewing the entire timeline on the Hallmark website you can gain an even broader perspective of the history of this company.
Somewhere along that 100-Year Timeline I became a part-time employee at a Hallmark store for several years. Perhaps that is why I find the Hallmark history interesting, and why I personally celebrate the company’s growth and historic changes that have occurred over such a long span of time.
At this point in history America especially needs corporations like Hallmark to prosper and to hire employees. Congratulations, Hallmark, on having completed 100 years of business, and a salute to your future as you begin year number 101!
