McMahan on Holiday Cards & Comedy: The Conversation

Assistant Director of Comedic Arts and theater historian Matt McMahan writes for The Conversation about the history of holiday cards and comedy, especially during other hard times, and present day cards, as they can help us deal with what has been a difficult year worldwide. The article includes beautiful imagery of cards from the 1800s – present day.

So, although many families all over the world are certainly experiencing a period of great strife and loneliness, that doesn’t mean the holiday greetings have to skirt the sad. Rather, a touch of irreverence enables these cards to mark the anxieties and worries of the now with the spirit of a different, and still meaningful, sort of merriment.

Read The Conversation piece.