The song/poem envelopes produced by J.A. Howells of Jefferson, Ohio during the 1860-1866 period are, because they often were used by soldiers writing home, extensively collected as an important area of Civil War Postal History. Several books on Civil War patriotic covers include them, and most collectors of Civil War patriotic covers include them in their collections.

  Larger firms, such as Magnus and Magee produced hundreds of different patriotic songsheet and lettersheet designs, but Howells was apparently the only printing firm which so widely produced these envelopes. Perhaps they were scared from competition by the famous TWENTY ENVELOPES OF VARIOUS SIZES, COLORS AND SONGS FOR TEN CENTS, which was printed on many envelopes.

  Sometime in the early 1850s, the Howells family, which previously operated the Astabula Sentinel newspaper, moved to Jefferson, Ohio and subsequently established a business which primarily sold envelopes and paper products. The business must have been successful, for in 1866, a newspaper ad offered a wide variety of products including song sheets, song envelopes, patriotic envelopes, pens, games, scrapbooks, etc. Another ad offered an extensive selection of legal forms.

  One famous Howells family member was William Dean (1837-1920), a successful author and poet. He was involved in the family business and some have speculated that it was he who composed most of the song verses found on the envelopes.  Howells song verses always filled the left half of the cover and were surrounded by various fancy borders.  A separate study might be made of the borders as many songs can be found with different style borders and on different color envelopes too.

  As of 1995, I record over 100 different song titles published by Howells.  Since some song titles can, as previously noted, be found with differing borders or color envelopes, this then presents the collector with a modestly challanging collecting field. I am not aware of anyone forming a complete collection.

America      Angel of Patience, The     Army Hymn     Be Contented     Be Kind to Each Other

Beautiful Thoughts     Bend Softly Down     Beneath the Stars     Better Late Than Never    

Blessed Be Letters     Brave at Home, The     Bruised Heart, The     Cause, The     Cavalry Charge

Cavalry Song     Country Home     Day, The     Days Gone By     Departed Youth   

Do They Miss Me At Home?     Do They Think of Me At Home?     Draft     Fireside Memories

Flow On, Thy Shing River     Freedom's Triumph     From The Pen     God Save The Union

Hand to One Another, A     Home Again     How Is Gold Today?     Hymn for the Hour    

I Love But Thee     I Miss Thee So     I Think of Thee      I Watch For Thee     Imperishible

Improve Lifes Hour     In Memoriam     Isle of Beauty     Kiss Me Before You Go     Last Star, The

Letter, A     Letter, The     Life Let Us Cherish     Lifes Labor     Live For Something

Long Ago, The     Message, A     Mutibility     By Beau Thats In The Army     My Country

My Friends     My Last Segar     National Song,  A     Never Again     Never Despair     No Letter Yet

Nothing Is Lost     Not Forgotten     Not Married Yet     Ohio, The     On Guard    

One Line From Thee     Persevere     Promise of Wisdom, The     Robin Adair     Sit Down Sad Soul

Soldier, The     Soldier's Letter     Song My Mother Sang, The     Speak No Ill     Suicide, The

Sweets of Liberty     Sword, The     These Tears     Thou Art Not Forgotten

Thou Wilt Never Meet Me More     Thou Wilt Think of Me (Original)     300,000 Strong

Tis Home Where The Heart Is     Tis Sweet to be Remembered  To a Friend     To a Wife

To a Sister     To an Envelope     To an Old Friend     To Lucy      To My Brother

To The Absent     Today and Tomorrow    Too Late     Trip Lightly     Uncompleted Labors

Union Forever (2 styles)     Waiting For the Mail     We Miss Thee at Home     

What Can the Matter Be?     When Through Life     World, The     Write Often     Write Soon   

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