Newport's Valentine Social, Newport Bicycle Club, Worcester, Mass., Tepsichorean [sic] Hall, Wed. Ev'g Feb. 8 '05, Light Infantry Orchestra

Worceseter, [Mass.]: Sunderland & Orne Printers, S. Pleasant St, 1905. [EPHEMERA] [VALENTINE] [BICYCLE CLUB] [DANCE CARD]. Two Valentine-style dance cards for Valentine Social sponsored by the Newport Bicycle Club in Worcester Massachusetts at Tepsichorean [Terpsichorean] Hall, once located at 311 Main Street. The card lists the 18 dance numbers played by the Light Infantry Orchestra. The last page of the insert lists the members involved in the organization of the dance. On the recto of the rear wrappers are love poems, one titled "From Love's Captive" and the other titled "Ever Dear to Me."

Worcester, Massachusetts prides itself on having been the center of the commercial Valentine industry in the U.S. for over 100 years, beginning in the mid-19th century. (Worcester Historical Museum),

No reference to the Newport Bicycle Club was found in any of the Worcester city histories. However, the bicycle craze on the East Coast began in the late 1890s and flourished through the first part of the 20th century.

6 ¼" x 4 ¾"; color half-tone embossed and die-cut wrapper of pansies with an overlay of paper lace framing a cupid, two small die-cuts pasted on the lace, a small cat head and "Affections offering" with flowers; [4]pp insert bound in with a pink silk ribbon; Order of Dances and the committee listings; the rear wrapper features a printed poem.

The second card features an embossed pink floral die-cut wrapper, a paper lace onlay framing a cupid with two small die-cuts pasted on the lace, a butterfly, and a flower.