The Calling Card of the Victorian Era served a very important purpose. It was how a lady made acquaintances, who in turn became her friends. It was a social grace that bespoke of the softer side of the genteel society of the Victorian Era. As it was purely ceremonial, it was something to get dressed up for.

The call itself was a formal visit of about fifteen minutes. The caller, arriving in hat and veil, gloves and parasol, didn't remove any of these. She perched on a chair, made small talk, and then departed, leaving, on her way out, her card and two of her husband's (one each for the hostess and host: a woman, could not, however, leave a card for a man.)

A card could substitute for the call itself, if upon entering the house, the caller was told the lady was "Not at Home." She very well could be upstairs reading. If the card had the top right corner folded down: the visitor was calling to pay respects.

The occasions on which the duty was decreed were numerous. Strictly speaking however, a call should be returned within ten days. That was the basic reciprocation that kept an acquaintanceship cordial. Then there was the "party visit," a visit to one's hostess within a week of being entertained.

The most important call was the "first call," always made by a social superior. It was considered terribly forward for newcomers to make the "first calls" on people they didn't know. They had to wait to be noticed. It was also necessary to make farewell calls when leaving town.

This many calls could of course become burdensome, and as time continued the rules relaxed some. Some families overtime, invented a "professional visitor"...a young woman who would distribute the Lady's cards to the right people. It also became acceptable to send one's carriage and footman around town leaving cards, though a woman had to be seen sitting in the carriage (usually one's lady's maid was selected for the job). By 1910, one lady simply left her calling list with her stationers, who printed the cards and delivered them for her twice yearly, saving her, or her maid, the trouble of having to make another call.

And so began the slow demise of the social grace of visiting and leaving one's Calling Card.