Hallmark: A Century of Caring

The history of Hallmark is a story of how a family worked hard to create a world treasure.

Loved the book

Hallmark has a reputation in Kansas City as being a great place to work, and the company's products are knows to be "the very best." Hallmark is truly a class act, from Crown Center, to their greeting cards, the retail shops, The American Restaurant, the ornament collection, their made for TV movies... and this book is a great history of the company and the Hall family. The section discussing the Hyatt skywalk disaster, one of the darkest days in Kansas City history, is particularly moving and gives great insight into the family and their passions. This book is highly suggested for anyone with an interest in the company, or for people that would like to learn of a modern organization that peddles the best of America.

Great book and ordering, delivery and current use are all excellent, many thanks!

This book has a profusion of pictures & photos (of which some of the latter are in sepia) and a really interesting & significant amount of written material. For anyone who loves cards and values nostalgia, this book is a treasure.

The product description above will give an idea of what the book is about and I can add to it by saying these pages are a visual treat about everyone's favorite card company. The ten chapters cover the history and as it's privately owned by the Hall family they obviously feature strongly throughout the pages, sort of like a family photo album at times. One of the nice things about the book are the spreads devoted to various artists who created all those wonderful cards, like: Saul Steinberg; Mary Hamilton; Betsy Clark; Charles Schultz; Gail Flores; Alice Ann Biggerstaff; Majolein Bastin, John Wagner (the Maxine man) and especially Vivian Trillow Smith (she was the first artist to add a signature to her work). The names might not be familiar to you but when you look at their artwork you'll maybe remember receiving or sending a card of theirs. Each chapter starts with a delightful collage spread then a page or two with some background to the times (the Thirties has a page about the Dust Bowl and Kansas City jazz) followed by plenty of cards, other products and how the Hall family ran the company. Everywhere there are sidebars about specific themes like printing techniques, Hallmark International Art Awards, Shoebox cards, Hallmark Keepsake ornaments and more. Chapter seven looks at the Hall of Fame radio and television output, which was very successful over the years and eventually inspired the family oriented cable channel and TV movies. When I got the book I was surprised to find a DVD inside the back cover with 'The magic of ordinary days', a typical Hallmark production from 2005 (the movie lasts just over ninety-seven minutes) and also on the disc two Hallmark commercials from 1982 and 1995. The company seems a conspicuous American success story which the USPS thought worth celebrating this year by issuing a 44 cent stamp in their Love series and showing part of Hallmark's biggest seller: the Mother's Day pansy basket, painted by Dorothy Maienschein in 1939. So far an amazing thirty million sold. Like their cards the book is handsome production, but there really should have been an index. Plenty of cards are shown but if you want a more thorough coverage have a look at Ellen Stern's excellent The Very Best from Hallmark: Greeting Cards Through the Years , with 750 shown in color in a lovely looking book. ***SEE SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

Anyone out there tell me if hallmark made a 1997 blond Barbie holiday ornament ? Many thanks. Judy