A group of collectors in Tucson - and all over the United States - cherish items whose origins are particularly bittersweet to consider on Valentine's Day.
They're "sweetheart pillow covers" - silk shams that vendors sold at military bases in the United States from the time of the Spanish American War through World War II.
Soldiers bought the pillow covers, which usually feature a poem to the recipient, for about $7 and sent them home to loved ones.
Now collectors buy and sell the shams online for about $20.
Scenes of troops marching to battle decorate the front of an antique pillow cover owned by Tucsonan Rae Whitley. The art looks as if it were hand-drawn with a blue pen. On the back of the pillow is a depiction of a soldier dancing with a woman who appears to be from Mexico.
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The pillow cover is from the Punitive Expeditions at the Mexican border, which took place in 1916 and 1917, Whitley said.
The pale-blue pillow cover's seams feel glued together, and the material, although shiny like silk, feels similar to an iron-on patch. It measures nearly 17 inches across.
Whitley, who owns a dozen of the pillow covers, works at the University of Arizona Historical Society and is a curator at the Museum of the Horse Soldier at 6541 E. Tanque Verde Road.
While both shams at the museum show signs of use, some covers in Whitley's collection were never used; one even came with its original mailing envelope, having never been sent.
Most of the pillow covers Whitley has come across were from camps within the United States, such as Fort Huachuca, where soldiers had not yet seen combat, he said.
"These guys were worried they were going to be forgotten," said Whitley, who served nine years in the Army.
The shams were sold by anyone who had enough money to set up shop near a base, said Whitley.
"It's a link to a private part of the war," he said of the pillow covers.
Two members of a local Veterans of Foreign Wars post said things had changed by the time they served.
"I didn't think about sending anything home, but more trying to stop from shaking," said Alfred Hubert, who served four tours in Vietnam with the Marine Corps.
Hubert, along with fellow Vietnam veteran Terrill Smith, who served in the Army, are members of VFW Post 10188, at 345 E. Roger Road.
"We received a lot more than we sent," Smith said.
With their sugary poems and feminine colors, sweetheart pillow covers seem to embody an idealized concept of war.
"War was more romantic back then," Hubert said of World War II and previous wars. "People didn't know what was going on."
About the museum
More information about the Museum of the Horse Soldier, 6541 E. Tanque Verde Road, which houses a collection of wartime artifacts, is at www.horsesoldiermuseum.com online.
Angela Mullis is a UA journalism student who apprenticed last semester at the Star. E-mail comments to tkjos@azstarnet.com
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