It’s Valentine’s Day today, and many are celebrating with cards, flowers, candy, food, or spending time with the special people in their lives.
How did people celebrate Valentine’s Day seventy-five, one hundred, or even more years ago? The answers can be found in the Wyoming State Library’s Wyoming Digital Newspaper Collection!
Headline of an article from the Laramie Weekly Sentinel printed on February 14, 1876
According to an article in the Laramie Weekly Sentinel on Valentine’s Day in 1876, customs including catching owls and sparrows, tying valentine cards to pieces of fruit, pinning bay leaves to pillows, or simply eating hardboiled eggs have been associated with Valentine’s Day. If would like to learn more about Some Curious Ways of Observing St. Valentine’s Day, check out the full article by searching for it in the Wyoming Digital Newspaper Collection.
An article snippet from the Uinta Chieftain, February 17, 1950
According to an article found in the issue of the Uinta Chieftain printed on February 17, 1950, high school students and staff at South High School held a dance during the last hour of the school day. Their school principal, Ken Muir, taught the students a variety of group dances, including the Virginia Reel.
It’s truly fascinating to take a peek into the lives of Wyomingites who lived in the Cowboy State long ago. The Wyoming Digital Newspaper Collection gives patrons the opportunity to search the newspapers of Wyoming’s past by title, date, tag, or county. Our oldest newspaper issue is from 1849 and many Wyoming newspapers as recent as 2021 have been digitized and added to the collection. Check it out today!