Today appears to be National Watermelon Day! This observance was initiated by (surprise!) the National Watermelon Growers & Distributors Association in the early 1980s, with the first official celebration occurring on July 30, 1985, when then Agriculture Secretary John R. Block gave the holiday its official designation in Washington, D.C.
In the intervening years, the national association, founded as the Melon Distributors Association in 1913, has rebranded as the National Watermelon Association and the observance of all things watermelon has migrated to August 3rd. We're taking part today with this circa 1910 seed packet for Cuban Queen Watermelon seeds from the Card Seed Company of Fredonia, New York.
This item is from Hagley Library's Fingerman collection of ephemera (Accession 2009.213), a collection of ephemera assembled by collectors Gerald and Arlene Fingerman. This collection consists of mixed-format ephemera from various endeavors within American culture, primarily the manufacturing and selling of products or services. Advertising cards and labels compose a large portion of the collection, but also included are billheads, blotters, bookmarks, business cards, catalogs, checks, envelopes, flyers, letterheads, newsletters, packaging, postcards, and stamps. It has not been digitized in its entirety, but you can view a selection of material from this collection online now in our Digital Archive.