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Anna Jarvis didn’t expect her celebration of mothers to blow up the way it did.
In 1908, Jarvis was a congregant at Historic St. George’s United Methodist Church in Philadelphia when she started Mother’s Day as a way to honor her own mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, who herself spent years supporting fellow mothers.
“Ann Reeves Jarvis had 13 children, but unfortunately, only four survived to adulthood,” said Taylor Schmalz, the director of collections and interpretation at Historic St. George’s Museum and Archives.
“She wanted to spare other mothers her grief that she felt and she wanted to teach other mothers how to keep their children from getting sick.”
From there, Ann Reeves Jarvis established Mothers’ Day work clubs, which increased awareness about basic hygiene practices like washing hands.
Ann also organized a “Mother’s Friendship Day” during the Civil War to unite families from both sides of the battle.
This early activism led Ann to see the importance of women and mothers in everyday life, said Schmalz.
“On Ann’s deathbed, she tells Anna that she wants to have a Mother’s Day celebration to celebrate all of the invisible labor that women do for their churches, for their community and for their homes,” she said.
Anna spent the next few years working to establish a national Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May, the day her mother had died.
The first official Mother’s Day was held on May 10, 1908. Anna sent 500 white carnations (her mother’s favorite flower) to her hometown of Grafton, West Virginia, and a larger celebration was held at the Wanamaker Auditorium in Philadelphia.
While the event started to spread throughout the country, it took some time to officially be recognized.
“As time goes on, Anna is advocating and doing a letter-writing campaign to get Mother’s Day as an official calendar holiday, and that gets signed by Woodrow Wilson in 1914,” said Schmalz.
But the holiday quickly got commercialized.
“Anna originally wanted the holiday to be an intimate celebration with [a person’s] children and their mothers,” Schmalz said. “She envisioned the day to be going to church services, giving a white carnation, and potentially a homemade card. She was not a fan of people capitalizing on the holiday.”
As the commercialization grew, Anna went on to regret her decision.
“She decides to start campaigning against Mother’s Day and to just get rid of the holiday in general because of what it’s become,” she said.
Anna passed in 1948 – but not without a long fight against the commercialization of the holiday.
A present look at Mother’s Day
Despite Anna’s later efforts, Mother’s Day celebrations have only continued to evolve – from festivals to craft markets to brunches, there continue to be lots of events people use to celebrate the women in their lives.
This weekend, Anna’s original creation will be celebrated as the first official Mother’s Day as part of the city’s latest “Firstival” event at The Historic St. George’s Museum & Archives on 326 New St.
Schmalz said the museum will try to honor Jarvis in their activities.
“We are taking Anna Jarvis’s little motto of ‘go homemade or go home,’ because she didn’t believe in buying personal cards,” Schmalz said. “She wanted everything to be from the heart, so she advocated for individuals to make their own cards for their mothers. So we’re going to have Mother’s Day card-making.”
The celebration will also have performances and a special, temporary exhibit with some of Jarvis’ items.
Here is your full guide to all of this year’s firstivals – including where you can find this upcoming Saturday’s Firstival dates and location.
Completed
Week 1: Successful balloon flight in America (1793)
Week 2: The Mummers parade, the nation’s first folk parade (1901)
Week 3: Volunteer fire company (1736)
Week 4: Professional basketball league (1898)
Week 5: Public Girl Scout cookie sale (1932)
Week 6: African Methodist Episcopal congregation (1794)
Week 7: Abolitionist society in America (1775)
Week 8: Authentic Chinese gate built in America (1984)
Week 9: Public protest against slavery in America (1688)
Week 10: Flower Show (1829)
Week 11: Women’s medical college (1850)
Week 12: Matchbook (1892)
Week 13: Medical school (1765)
Week 14: Stadium (1895)
Week 15: Circus performance (1793)
Week 16: Botanical garden (1728)
Week 17: Postmaster (1737)
Week 18: American-made piano and sousaphone (1775 and 1893)
Upcoming
• Mother’s Day (1908)
May 9, Historic St. George’s Museum & Archives, 326 New St.
• Hospital in America (1751)
May 16, Pennsylvania Hospital, 800 Spruce St.
• World’s Fair on American soil (1876)
May 23, Please Touch Museum, 4231 Avenue of the Republic
• Steamboat for passengers and freight (1787)
May 30, Independence Seaport Museum, 211 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd.
• American flag (1777)
June 6, Betsy Ross House, 239 Arch St.
• U.S. Army (1775)
June 13, Museum of the American Revolution, 101 S. 3rd St.
• Annual Reminder demonstration (1965)
June 20, Philly Pride Visitor Center, Lombard St. and S. 12th St.
• Paper maker in America (1690)
June 27, Rittenhouse Town, 6034 Wissahickon Ave.
• Bank of the United States (1791)
July 4, First Bank of the United States, 120 S. 3rd St.
• Organized baseball team (1831)
July 11 (location TBD)
• Ice cream soda (Oct. 1874)
July 18, Franklin Fountain, 116 Market St.
• American art school (1805)
July 25, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 118-128 N. Broad St.
• Scientific Society of Natural History (1812)
Aug. 1, at Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• Zoo in America (1874)
Aug. 8, Philadelphia Zoo, 3400 W. Girard Ave.
• U.S. Mint (1793)
Aug. 15 (location TBD)
• Selfie (1839)
Aug. 22, Love Park, 1501 John F Kennedy Blvd.
• Slinky (1943)
Aug. 29, Philadelphia Art Museum, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• Signing of the Constitution (1787)
Sept. 5, National Constitution Center, 525 Arch St.
• Continental Congress (1774)
Sept. 12 at Carpenters’ Hall, 320 Chestnut St.
• Naming of the United States (1776)
Sept. 19, Independence Hall
• Ronald McDonald House (1974)
Sept. 26, Ronald McDonald House, 3925 Chestnut St.
• Penitentiary in America (1829)
Oct. 3, Eastern State Penitentiary, 2027 Fairmount Ave.
• The First Peoples
Oct. 10, Penn Museum, 3260 South St.
• U.S. Navy and Marine Corps (1775)
Oct. 17, Arch Street Meeting House, 320 Arch St.
• Public showing of a motion picture (1870)
Oct. 24, Philadelphia Film Society, 1412 Chestnut St.
• Modern detective story written (1841)
Oct. 31, Edgar Allan Poe House, 532 N. 7th St.
• Thanksgiving Day parade in America (1920)
Nov. 7, Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• University in America (1740)
Nov. 14, Houston Hall, The University of Pennsylvania, 3417 Spruce St.
• Children’s hospital in America (1855)
Nov. 21, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Main Building, 3401 Civic Center Blvd.
• Pencil with an attached eraser (1858)
Nov. 28, National Liberty Museum, 321 Chestnut St.
• Weather bureau (1870)
Dec. 5, The Franklin Institute, 222 N. 20th St.
• Electronic computer (1945)
Dec. 12, The University of Pennsylvania, 3451 Walnut St.
• Public lending library in America (1731)
Dec. 19, The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust St.
• Philly food firsts: Cheesesteaks (1930s), water ice (1932) and bubble gum (1928)
Dec. 26, Reading Terminal Market, 1136 Arch St.
