[Christmas card showing Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus in a barn]

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A Christmas card rendered as a wood engraving, this print shows the Holy Family sheltered in a barn, a rustic setting that departs from the stable scenes more often seen in Nativity imagery. Wood engraving, with its fine white lines cut into dense black blocks, was a favorite technique for holiday cards in the mid-twentieth century, valued for its crisp, handmade look that could be reproduced cheaply in large runs. Cards like this one were sent by families, churches and businesses during the 1950s, when the engraved Nativity offered a quiet, traditional alternative to the brighter commercial designs of the period.

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