Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Nancy Reagan & White House Easter Bunnies



The postcard above shows Nancy Reagan with the White House Easter bunnies. This postcard was published by Coral-Lee of Rancho Cordova, California. The description on the back of the card is as follows:
The two White house Easter bunnies help Nancy Reagan greet the 21,000 children who came to frolic at the traditional Easter Monday Egg Roll and newly instituted egg hunt. The President, still convalescing from his painful ordeal, is upstairs re-engaging with the routine of the Presidency by easy steps as he approaches the end of the "First Hundred Days" in office - a successful period that saw a decisive U-turn in the course of American government. April 20, 1981.
The "painful ordeal" mentioned in the description was the assassination attempt that occurred on March 30, 1981.

Coralie Sparre was the woman who published Coral-Lee postcards. She was very enthusiastic about documenting the main events of the Carter and Reagan presidencies on postcards. The postcard below shows her presenting President Carter with an album of postcards she published about him. The description on the back is as follows:
JANUARY 10, 1981. A stunning climax to Coralie Sparre's (Coral-Lee) four year chronicle of a presidential administration, the first ever to be so documented. In the oval office of the White House, she presents to President Jimmy Carter a commemorative album of all her postcards of his presidency, publishing at various intervals since 1976, chronicling his four years as Chief Executive. The album will become part of the future Carter Presidential Libary.
The Coral-Lee postcards were normally published in full color. She included a note with this black and white postcard explaining that the photographer had used the wrong camera and the photo was taken with black and white film by mistake.




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14 comments:

  1. That seems pretty unusual a topic. Did she publish other postcards too?

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  2. I was only familiar with the political cards, but there is stuff on the internet about movie stars and baseball too.

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  3. This is fascinating. I had never heard of her, but will now keep my eyes open. I generally avoid political and celebrity cards, but this makes them interestingly collectible for another reason.

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  4. Those are some scary bunnies with Nancy Reagan! I'm glad to know about Cora-Lee.

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  5. These bunnies remind me a bit of the Mall bunnies today! This is very interesting stuff.....nice bunny post! Happy Easter too!

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  6. Very interesting, and I agree with Christine, those bunnies are creepin' me out a little. But they are great images.

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  7. This is very interesting. What a thoughtful gift ... an amplified photo album of sorts.

    Nancy is so petite, making the Easter bunnies look huge!

    Thanks so much for sharing this cool history information.

    Happy Easter,

    Kathy M.

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  8. I'm wondering whether the bunnies or Nancy Reagan were scarier. Let me check my astrology guide......

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  9. This is so interesting to me because we lived out of but near Sacramento of which Rancho Cordova is a major suburb. Never heard of this postcard publication though, likely never paid attention. I love the photo card of Nancy between the bunies! Unique.

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  10. This is a very bunny card! I've not heard of Cora-Lee before - very informative!

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  11. I agree with Meri.

    Cora-Lee sounds like a very interesting person.
    Barbra

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  12. I didn't know there were White House Easter Bunnies - they are a bit scary though :-)

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  13. this is priceless!!
    :D~
    pretty sure these bunnies were actually secret servicemen...
    ;)~
    HUGZ

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  14. Those giant bunnies are somewhat grotesque. Most children I know would run away fast! A very interesting post. I hope you had a good Easter.

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