South Street Seaport Museum announces its free Valentine’s Day offerings, beginning February 2, 2025.



Print Your Own Valentine's Day Card | February 9, 2025 | 12–2pm | 211 Water St | Free

The Seaport Museum invites you to Print Your Own Valentine’s Day Card at a free workshop at Bowne & Co.Add a personal touch to your valentine and print your own card at Bowne & Co. using the South Street Seaport Museum’s working collection of 19th century historical printing equipment. In this drop-in mini-workshop, you are invited to get hands-on throughout the printing process and will get to see how the professional designers at Bowne utilize the Museum’s collection in their work. While you’re at the Museum, check out the wide array of unique products available at the Bowne & Co. Gift Emporium to find something special for your valentine.



Want to include your special someone in the experience? Invite them to join in the festivities and attend the program together. Anyone ages 12 and up is welcome. All participants get to take home the items they print. seaportmuseum.org/bowne-valentine



Valentine Like a Sailor | February 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 | 11am–4:30pm | 207 Water St | Free

Come to the Seaport Museum to Valentine Like a Sailor on Saturdays and Sundays this February from 11am to 4:30pm, at 207 Water Street, NYC. Bring 19th-century maritime craft tradition to your handmade Valentine’s Day cards with the Seaport Museum! Attendees will create their own special trinket for the holiday and learn about the unique history of Sailors’ Valentines—tokens of love and friendship. This activity will also be available on special Seaport Museum open days for the New York City public school Midwinter Recess from February 19–23.



Historically, these small wooden boxes were given by seafarers to their wives, sweethearts, daughters, and loved ones when they returned from a long voyage. The small boxes open to reveal sentimental messages surrounded with intricate mosaics of shells and found objects arranged in exquisite geometric patterns and motifs such as hearts, anchors, and flowers.



Using beads, buttons, and shells, families and friends of all ages are invited to the Seaport Museum where we’ll continue the creative tradition together. Supplies are available on a first-come first-served basis, and space is limited.



The activity will take place indoors at 207 Water Street. Access to 207 Water Street includes walking up and down a few stairs. seaportmuseum.org/family-activity-weekends



A History of Sailors’ Valentines

Sailors’ Valentines were popular mementos for sailors aboard navy and whaling ships from 1830–1880 and are relatively rare today. Long considered fascinating examples of 19th century maritime craft tradition, wooden boxes open to reveal intricate mosaics created from shells of various shapes and colors. These boxes were often given by sailors as tokens of love and friendship to their wives, mothers, sisters, and friends upon a seafarer’s return from a long voyage.



Though these sentimental treasures are referred to as “Sailors’ Valentines,” many historians now believe most of these works originated in Barbados and the West Indies. Modern scholarship suggests that local women made these works, which were then purchased by seamen as souvenirs. As is the case with many works of art, correct attribution and historical understanding of these objects is evolving so that historians and institutions can shine light on historically under-recognized artists.



“Sailors’ Valentines” remain a beautiful and romantic part of New England maritime heritage and cultural exchange.



19th-Century-Style Letterpress Print Shop

No visit to the Museum is complete without a walk through Bowne & Co., Stationers. Make sure to stop by the Museum's turn-of-the-century store where you can find designs created by resident printers using custom plates, historic fonts, and printing presses from the Museum's working collection. seaportmuseum.org/bowne-co-stationers.



About Bowne & Co.

Established by Robert Bowne in 1775, Bowne & Co. holds the distinction of being New York’s oldest operating business under the same name. After growing as a financial printer throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Bowne & Co. Inc. partnered with the Seaport Museum in 1975 to open a 19th century-style print shop at 211 Water Street in the South Street Seaport Historic District. Today, it is comprised of the Bowne & Co. Printing Office––a workspace that continues the age-old tradition of job (or small batch) printing using historic presses from South Street Seaport Museum’s working collection––and Bowne & Co. Stationers, a 19th century-style emporium selling gifts and fine goods. seaportmuseum.org/bowne-co-stationers



About the South Street Seaport Museum

The South Street Seaport Museum, located in the heart of the historic seaport district in New York City, preserves and interprets the history of New York as a great port city. Founded in 1967, the Museum houses an extensive collection of works of art and artifacts, a maritime reference library, exhibition galleries and education spaces, working 19th century print shops, and an active fleet of historic vessels that all work to tell the story of “Where New York Begins.” seaportmuseum.org



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• February 2 at 11:00 am

  February 2, 2025 11:00
• South Street Seaport Museum
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• Contact Michelle Tabnick for more information
  6467654773 or [email protected]
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