When you visited the Nationwide Archives Constructing in late 1974, you could possibly buy a specifically designed vacation card with this design:
The cardboard confirmed Santa Claus and one in every of his reindeers wanting on the Declaration of Independence, Structure, and Invoice of Rights on show within the Nationwide Archives Exhibition Corridor. The design displays what the Rotunda appeared like earlier than its early 2000s renovation, when Declaration of Independence was nonetheless on vertical show.
The designer, Sandy Sharpe, was from the Nationwide Archives Academic Program design crew. Guests to the Nationwide Archives Constructing may buy the vacation card for 15 cents every or as a pack of 25 for $3.50 on the gross sales desk. On the precise card, Santa is coloured crimson. We all know this as a result of the playing cards had been nonetheless being bought via the Nineteen Eighties, and employees nonetheless keep in mind them.
The gross sales desk opened when the company first started producing publications within the late Forties. As much as that time, it usually bought facsimile packets reminiscent of “The Charters of Freedom,” “Emancipation Proclamation,” and different Nationwide Archives’ publications. This was the company’s first foray into the vacation greeting card market. All proceeds went to the Nationwide Archives Belief Fund.
The Gross sales Desk is lengthy gone, however right now guests should purchase Nationwide Archives memorabilia—together with vacation greeting playing cards—on the Nationwide Archives Basis–run reward store in Washington, DC.
Joyful Holidays from the Nationwide Archives!
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