Welcome Back Story of America Cards:
So this is John Hancock. You probably know him as an early founding father, the first governor of the state of Massachusetts and the first (and largest) signer of the Declaration of Independence.
What you might not know is that the image above of John Hancock is from a Story of America Card, sets of picture cards sold from 1979-1980 in packets of 24 via commercials on television. A total 2,256 cards in 94 decks were released in a short period, each featuring a different person, icon, trend or event in the American experience. The cards have been out of print since.
On August 4, 1980, 3 days before my 7th birthday, I received my first deck of Story of America Cards in mail. An avid card collector of all kinds back then, I had asked for them as a birthday present six weeks earlier and remember getting home from day camp, sitting on the front steps in the balmy Michigan sun and singing to no one in particular "My Story of America Cards Cay-aaame!"
I hadn’t thought of Story of America Cards until a curious google search last month showed me that a largely complete set was available for a very reasonable price. I’m now the proud owner of that set and upon some consideration and a lot of fondling, I now believe these cards were the beginning of my love affair with all things American.
What that search also reveals is almost no public record of the cards, a bit of background, no Wikipedia page no directory of their total holdings. While many of them are dated and a bit politically incorrect (the section of cards on race relations is called "The Black Man"), as a child I found them an invaluable teaching aid and a fun, easy way to learn a lot about this country without feeling like I’d swallowed a handful of brussel sprouts.
So here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to scan my entire collection a little at a time and upload them all to a Flickr Photoset. Each card will include a description and links to the card’s subject. I’ll also be posting about them here every now and them when I upload more.
Tag and note them at will. They’ve brought me such wisdom and joy in just a short time. I can’t wait to share them with you.
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6 Replies to “Welcome Back Story of America Cards:”
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WOW! I, too, had access to these (didn’t have my own, but our school’s gifted program had a set) and loved going through them in our “unstructured time”. Can’t wait for you to get to the Ben Franklin card — thanks for scanning them in!
WOW! I, too, had access to these (didn’t have my own, but our school’s gifted program had a set) and loved going through them in our “unstructured time”. Can’t wait for you to get to the Ben Franklin card — thanks for scanning them in!
That’s so awesome, Kimberly. Thanks!
That’s so awesome, Kimberly. Thanks!
Yeah, when I was a kid I was that sort of geek, too. Though I hadn’t heard of the Story of America cards until now, in 1972 I was an avid collector of the “U.S. Presidents” series put out by Topps. That was an election year, and there were even cards for the top candidates in the presidential primaries – for some reason I still remember the one with Shirley Chisholm, which has to be the only time she ever appeared on a trading card.
Yeah, when I was a kid I was that sort of geek, too. Though I hadn’t heard of the Story of America cards until now, in 1972 I was an avid collector of the “U.S. Presidents” series put out by Topps. That was an election year, and there were even cards for the top candidates in the presidential primaries – for some reason I still remember the one with Shirley Chisholm, which has to be the only time she ever appeared on a trading card.