Activity One: Valentine Observations And Inferences

Activity One: Valentine Observations and InferencesTake some time to simply observe Image One carefully—at least one quiet minute.Using the Valentine from Image One, students should work individually or in teams to begin to makeobservations and predictions. This may also be a whole-class activity, of course, with Image One projectedonto a screen or distributed amongst individuals or pods. Students should use the Student Observation Formand Student Observation Form Sample Responses as a template for inquiry.It’s important to begin gathering details before students make blanket statements like, “It looks like an oldvalentine!” Encourage the students to avoid generalities and follow the Student Observation Form.Though some students with more experience or who are keenly perceptive might be able to figure out veryquickly the image is a vintage valentine, breaking down the inferential process is very important. The purposeof this activity is to gather details which will eventually support and validate an inference—a key process forcritical thinking that can be applied to almost any situation.Don’t confirm or deny any inferences just yet . . . that comes later after more exploration.

Image OneImage enlarged to show details. Original image approximately 4.5” x 6.5”.

NameStudent Observation FormList details you see. Look carefully.What first catches your eye?What words do you see?What do you see that you can’t explain?What purpose do you think this might have been made for? Why?

Activity Four: Going DeeperLet’s take a look at the back of the vintage valentine to go deeper into historical thinking. Now that the back isin view, it makes it fairly obvious the valentine is a postcard, so let’s just make that a “given.”Note: Students who do not move beyond activity three may still find it interesting to see the back of thepostcard and have the teacher lead them through some of the details.*The postcard’s postmark took some investigation because it is not clearly legible, and indeed, it is ahypothesis based on historical and geographical evidence.Teachers may want to lead their students through the process of forming the “postmark hypothesis” as amodel for historical investigation they will follow as they “go deeper.” See The Postmark Hypothesis, ASample Historical Inquiry into Primary Sources below.First, we’ll start again with our observation form.

Image Two—Back ofPostcardImage enlarged to show detail. Original image approximately 4.5” x 6.5”.

NameStudent Observation Form 2List details you see. Look carefully.What first catches your eye?What words do you see? Translate the cursive script.What do you see that you can’t explain?What hypothesis can you make about the sender and receiver of this valentine postcard? Beprepared to explain your thinking.

The “Postmark Hypothesis”A Sample Historical Inquiry into Primary SourcesThe postmark’s year on the vintage Valentine is not clear—even with a magnifying glass. Is it 1903, 1913,1908, or 1918? Enhancing the image appears to reveal the year as 1918. Is there anything to support this?This postcard comes from the Whitney Company. A keyword net search for Whitney Company reveals that the“Whitney Made” cards from “Worcester, Mass” were popular from about 1900 to 1920. This doesn’t help uswith the date of our Valentine, but it does confirm the proper date range of our possibilities. We know we’re inthe right couple of decades.Another website concerning vintage postcards yields these tidbits: Before 1907 writing was not permitted on the “address side” of a postcard.Postcards with a back side divided into a “message” and an “address” area first appeared in March of1907.From 1915 to 1930, most postcards had a white border around the image on the front.We can now rule out 1903 as a postmark date because postcards did not have a divided back until 1907. Theback was used for addresses only, and the front sides had a small, white area for writing. These pre-1907postcards looked like this:

The “white border” years don’t help the investigation. It’s hard to tell if our valentine has a white border, sincethe background of the image is white. The white border we see could simply be a part of the design.Noting the one cent stamp on the 1907 postcard sample above, there may be another possible avenue. Ourvalentine postcard shows a two cent stamp. When did postage rates change? Let go back to the web with akeyword search for “when did postcard postage rates change?” We discover this:1872 – 1 cent1917 – 2 cents (to help the WWI war effort)1919 – 1 cent1952 – 2 centsThis is a fantastic clue for our hypothesis. In 1917, the postcard stamp was raised from one to two cents togenerate income to support WWI. This effectively rules out 1908 and 1913 as possible dates. We are left with1918. Postcard stamps were returned to one cent in 1919 and remained one cent until 1952. This is furtherconfirmation for our 1918 hypothesis.Now that we’ve nailed down the date, it’s time to try to figure out where our card was posted.For the city, we can read only “Napo” and a straight line that could be an uppercase “B,” “D,” “E,” “F,” “H,”“I,” “K,” “L,” “M,” “N,” “P,” or “R.”For the state, we can read only “NE.”“NAPO—“ could be anywhere! Let’s narrow this down using the state possibilities. Only three states beginwith “NE.” They are New York, New Jersey, and Nebraska. New York and New Jersey would be abbreviated“NY” and “NJ” respectively. If they were spelled out in their entirety, much more print would show on thepostmark. We can rule both New York and New Jersey as unlikely.Nebraska, however, may be abbreviated “NEB.” This is a definite possibility. Are there any cities in Nebraskawhich begin “NAPO?” Let’s hit the web for a list of Nebraska cities and towns.Yes, there is, in fact, only one Nebraska town beginning with “NAPO.” It is a very small town namedNAPONEE—with the second “N” being one of our possible “next letters.”This is looking like a good hypothesis! Was there a post office in Naponee in 1918? Fortunately, genealogy isa very popular pastime for web users. A genealogy citation on the web reveals that Naponee had a post officebeginning in 1872.Any further confirmation? Let’s think about this. The postcard is mailed to a hospital in Denver, Colorado.Would it be more likely a person would be in a hospital in Denver—for whatever reason—from Nebraska, NewJersey, or New York? Nebraska seems the most likely.While we do not have definitive proof for the postmark, our logic and investigation (all using the magic of theworldwide web, by the way) leads us to our hypothesis.Web ReferencesThe US50 State of Nebraska Cities—accessed 12/2012http://www.theus50.com/nebraska/cities.php

NEGen Web Naponee, Nebraska Post Office History—accessed 12/2012http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ nefrankl/naponeepo.htmlVintage Whitney Postcards—A Brief History: eBay Guides—accessed tcards-A-Brief-History?ugid 10000000008110590Tips for Determining When a U.S. Postcard was Published—accessed ostcardDating.htm

Activity Four ContinuedOur visual analysis and sample historical hypothesis complete, let’s turn the historical thinking over to thestudents.All the necessary supporting details for a hypothesis are either supplied or are available online.Here is the task:Using the primary source postcard and online resources you might discover, form a hypothesis thatanswers this question: Was the valentine sent from a male to a female?

Activity One: Valentine Observations and Inferences Take some time to simply observe Image One carefully—at least one quiet minute. Using the Valentine from Image One, students should work individually or in teams to begin to make observations and predictions. This may also be a whole-class activity, of course, with Image One projected