Men's Calling Cards

[crowley_greene]

I'm contemplating making up some Victorian-style calling cards for myself, and I'm a little uncertain of how to display my name on the card. Samples of cards that I have examined appear to feature men's full names (e.g., John Edward Smith). I go by my middle name, and I had wondered if putting my full name on the card would prompt people to refer to me by my first name rather than my middle name.

Is it correct to have a first initial, followed by middle and last names on calling cards of our period? I haven't seen any examples of that.

I think I've also noticed that calling card dimensions differed from today's business card dimensions.

Murray Therrell

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

You can find an excellent article from Virginia Mescher on her website www.raggedsoldier.com. Go to the archives and look up visiting cards.

[mmescher]

To add to the reference to Virginia's article, when you enter the site, click on the menu item (on the left side) for "Articles: Virginia's Veranda". That will take you to a page where you can click on "archived" for the past articles.

Also feel free to wander any other place on the website!

Michael Mescher

[Poor Private]

There have been alot of men who just use their first initial. One comes to mind F. Lee Bailey

[Elaine Kessinger]

The following website, I have found, to be very helpful with matters of etiquette and how manners were viewed in our time period. It includes several examples of various cards and the whys and wherefores of each. http://www.lahacal.org/gentleman/cards.html
Understand that in our time period, in public, you should always be addressed as Mr. (or apropriate title Dr., Rev., Col., Pvt.) Therrell by anyone with manners, making the question of what name from your card they use a moot point. :) Having a first and middle name was not a universal practice in our period, so feel free to pretend your middle name is your given first name in period. (See "First Names First" by Leslie Alan Ducking for documentation on name use in period) Another option would be to use initials for both first and middle names. Or you could do as you did in school, and say "name's XX, XXXXXX is the name I'm whipped by":)
Hopefully Helpful-

[vmescher]

The following website, I have found, to be very helpful with matters of etiquette and how manners were viewed in our time period. It includes several examples of various cards and the whys and wherefores of each. http://www.lahacal.org/gentleman/cards.html

Hopefully Helpful-

If you notice in the website above, the dates of the references are the 1880s and the etiquette of visiting cards did tend to change just as fashions did. Some aspects stayed the same but it is always best to refer to etiquette books of the same time period that you are portraying.

As an example, the size of the card mentioned 1.25" x 3" is smaller that the card size used in the 1860s which are mentioned the article on our website. There were contradictions about the size of cards but I don't think that they were that small in the 1860s.

The gentleman who raised the question about the use of the first initial, his example came from a modern source but in the 1860s, the name on the card was the formal name of the person, not necessarily the name they went by. I'm not sure how many men used their initial first as a full name in the 1860s but it would be an interesting project document its practice.

[Elaine Kessinger]

true, one can never accept information without seeing when the source comes from and yes, definately styles change...
..one of Mr. Therrell's concerns, as I understood it, was that the first name on his card would not match what he was called. My point, in answer, was that it might not matter that the name on the card was not what he was called, he can correct the person in conversation (as he probably has had to do most of his modern life).
...and Mrs. Mescher, I did not mean any offense toward you or Any of the hard work you and Mr. Mescher have put in documenting sources to our era, nor your generosity in making them available for our use. I am sorry, Madame.

[vmescher]

...and Mrs. Mescher, I did not mean any offense toward you or Any of the hard work you and Mr. Mescher have put in documenting sources to our era, nor your generosity in making them available for our use. I am sorry, Madame.

Elaine,

You did not offend me. I was just pointing out that the website only addressed a later time period and if someone was trying to find out how visiting cards were done and the visiting card etiquette of the 1860s they would need to look at references for the 1860s.

I'm not mired in the 1860s and the website that you posted is very informative for the later Victorian time period.