Universal York

You might remember the daily Boys’ and Girls’ Newspaper page in the Gazette and Daily. The page had puzzles, riddles, jokes and crafts, but the highlights were the letters from area children telling a little about themselves or a relative and asking for enrollment in the Birthday Club. (See example below.)

Once you were a Birthday Club member, you received a birthday card every year. Christmas cards were also sent out (see below), but I think they later just did the birthday cards. The very best part was the list each day of the celebrants and their ages. Once you could read, you could see your name in print. As I remember, since the Gazette and Daily didn’t publish on Sundays, there would be two lists in Saturday’s paper.

So, if you grew up in the 1930s through the 1960s (the Gazette closed down in 1970), you were sure to check the paper on your birthday. I remember being enrolled, as were my children, but we evidently didn’t keep the cards.

Erma Henry Raver did save some of her cards and those of her late husband, Clinton. She recently shared them with me, and she is donating them to the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives. I’ve scanned a few of her cards here, and I am also sharing a page showing Erma’s birthday from the YCHT newspaper microfilms.

At one point the Gazette used a series of birthday cards mentioning which birthday the young person was celebrating. They have appealing illustrations and seem to be by one, or possibly two, artists. I’ll share them in my next post.