Vintage Halloween Collectibles Research (1900-1979)

The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 3: An expected release of June 2024 is slated for Volume 3, The Halloween Retrospect reference series ( link here to THR blog ) and it sits in waiting with new content in an edition mostly about haunted houses, mostly! It is hoped that vintage Halloween collectors will appreciate a deeper review at ephemera collectible (of the haunted house) by such companies as Beistle, Dennison, Hallmark (featured in book with poster), Gibson (on the cover), Norcross, Whitney, and more. Book availability will be announced on the  THR website  in the near future.  This third time around, the library’s archivist at THR has opportunity to create a double-feature article on the transformation of haunted house imagery in early 20th-century times - and such a survey is not complete without considering the amazing mid-century paper engineering (in Part 2) from the past creative team of Hallmark Cards, Inc. for which help from Hallmark Archive  is include...

Hallmark Vintage Halloween Collectibles Part 3: 1970's As with  Hallmark Halloween Part 1: 1950’s  and  Hallmark Halloween Part 2: 1960’s  the final entry considering the history of vintage Halloween collectibles by Hallmark (Ambassador, etc.) comes to a close with  Hallmark Halloween Part 3: 1970’s   All entries are part of a study by the archive librarian to get a better grasp on assembly, honeycomb, and pop-ups pieces created by Hallmark Cards, Inc. (1950-1980). This is all in regards to a research article (on a different topic of The THR, V3 to appear in THR’s bookstore ). As with  “Decrypting Dennison: Serial Number Guide Featuring Autumn Publications” (THR, V2) , this entry into "later years" is pursued to exhaustively verify changes over the decades. Shown here (and above) are details from a pop-up book  A Visit to a Haunted House (1972) by Hallmark.

Hallmark Vintage Halloween Collectibles Part 2: 1960's As in previous entry Hallmark Halloween Part 1: 1950’s , The Halloween Retrospect vintage collectibles guidebook series is researching dates for autumn Hallmark centerpieces (around and a tad later than mid-century) to inform a book article on a relative subject. The book's article is in development stage for collectors’ guide The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 3, and this entry (including that which falls before and after) will be a bit of a sneak-peek into the next volume ( to be available from THR’s bookstore ). So, here we go, to discover better dates for Hallmark ephemera (assembly, honeycomb, and pop-up) circa 1950-1980. And as with “Decrypting Dennison: Serial Number Guide Featuring Autumn Publications” (THR, V2) , much is revealed by taking a broader view at Hallmark’s products across the decade of the 1960's. Shown here is a detail from a large table-top pop-up  Haunted House centerpiece by Ambassador (Hallmark).