If you think Valentine's Day has become too commercialized, you may take solace in knowing that a New York Times editorial said essentially the same thing in the mid-1850s. According to the newspaper, the sending of Valentines, a popular fad by that time, had "no useful feature, and the sooner it is abolished the better."
The editorial writer did not get his wish. In the years following the Civil War the number of Valentines being being sent actually increased, and postal workers bragged about how many they delivered.
And as the 19th century ended, Valentines were not just an enduring tradition. The British artist Kate Greenaway had turned them into an art form.
Full article: History of St. Valentine's Day in the 1800s
Photograph: Woman admiring Valentine card, from a 19th century stereograph/Getty Images
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