Card of the Day - 2021-11-25

This set is another familiar with Jefferson Burdick, and it shows a range of holidays, many of which have fallen from favour and are no longer celebrated, or even known of. However the set deserved to be more widely known of as this is another series of miniature masterpieces. And it also contains holidays which would be of great interest to thematic and ethnographical collectors. You can see a good selection in the Metropolitan Museum's collections.

Many collectors know of Duke, without owning any cards. However, what is little known is that the “W” in W. Duke, Sons & Co was actually Washington. He founded the company in 1881, so less than ten years before issuing these cards. His son, James Buchanan Duke, who preferred to be called “Buck”, was president of the American Tobacco Company and you can read more about him at this Duke University Libraries page, where there is also a link to a biography of his father. Duke University was a quaker establishment, intially called Trinity College but renamed in 1924 under the terms of an endowment by James Buchanan Duke to honor his deceased father.