My auction buddy Janet held in her hands several clear sheets of cards that she had gotten for a great price at auction. From where I sat across from her – and based on the images on the cards – they appeared to be old calling cards or business cards.
What are they, I asked. They were merit cards, handed out to students who had done well on their school work. The words “Reward of Merit” were imprinted in fancy script on the fill-in-the-blank cards.
Looking them over later, I found that they were all presumably from the 19th century. One had a copyright year of 1878, and another had the year 1866 written in pencil.
Among the cards on the first sheet were the image of a little girl reading, a little boy up a tree with a dog barking from below and a little girl lounging in a meadow with three rabbits watching her.
I had never seen merit cards at auction before, and these were a treat. I find items like these fascinating because the images on them are more than just pretty; they offer a glimpse into a different period – in manners, in dress and in the particular lifestyle they portray.
These cards also showed a connectedness between the years: When I was in school, teachers gave out certificates of merit on embossed 8 ½ x 11 sheets of paper. They were presented in a ceremony by the principal at the end of the school year. I collected quite a few and probably still have some of them. Today, kids get gold stars or have their work mounted in the classroom.
The students and teachers’ names were largely handwritten on the cards at auction in beautiful script, and some of them contained commercially printed graphics and poems.
“For conduct good and lessons learned
Your teacher can commend;
Good schoolarship has richly earned
This tribute from your friend.”
(The word scholarship was misspelled on two of the cards.)
“See dear parents! this will say
How your son has passed the day
‘He who follows while at school
Every precept, every rule
Carries to his home the joy
Of a good and happy boy.'”
Some of the cards were very fancy, with gilt lettering and borders, while others were simple. Most carried a serious message, but one group was more whimsical in tone. Printed on thin paper, they looked like copies that had been tinted. “Bank of Industry Will Pay One (Two, Three or Ten) Honors” was printed on the front, along with the handwritten child and teacher’s names.
Reward of Merit cards were a staple of the education system for more than a century. Teachers in the 19th century presented the cards to students for their academic achievement and good behavior. The earliest cards were artistically hand-drawn and painted (these are said to be more valuable and less common).
As printing evolved during the latter part of the century, the cards were commercially produced, as most of the ones from the auction. Here are some early handwritten cards.
The earliest cards carried a religious theme, sometimes with verses from the Bible. Englishman Robert Raikes was the first to use a merit system to award students. He started a Sunday school in his church in the late 18th century and used the system to maintain discipline and encourage attendance.
Two of the auction cards were religious and were dated 1861 and 1862.
During the 19th century, the cards were produced by a variety of printers, the most notable was Charles Magnus, who tended to use the same design on most of the maps, envelopes, stock certificates, Civil War scenes and other items that he printed. The Winterthur Library in Delaware has a collection of his works.
Kate Greenaway, the children’s book illustrator, also designed the cards.
Parents kept the cards, pasting them into scrapbooks to show off at family gatherings and as mementos. Some cards also included the surnames of the children that matched the teacher’s name. In these cases, the children may have been taught at home or perhaps the cards were given by mothers to their children.
The cards seemed to have been readily available. Montgomery Ward was selling them in its 1895 catalog. A school supply company in Minneapolis in 1917 was advertising cards made in Germany to teachers at prices ranging from 18 cents to 60 cents a dozen.
The use of the cards seemed to have been a source of debate. In responses to a commentary in “Primary Education” in 1896, writers discussed the merits of the cards. One person mentioned that she loved getting them once a month from her teachers. A teacher questioned the fairness of presenting cards for scholarship to those who excelled but not those who were struggling despite doing the best that they could.
UPDATE: On June 3, 2014, Swann Auction Galleries in New York sold two groupings of merit cards. A set of about 150 merit and Sunday School attendance cards from the second half of the 19th century sold for $94 (which included the buyer’s premium of 25 percent). A second group of about 250 merit cards, both wood engravings and chromolithographs also from the second half of the 19th century, sold for $125 (plus the premium).
