“Sweetheart” or “Mother” pillow covers were a popular souvenir for young men to send home to their loved ones from around the time of WWI through WWII. Pillow covers, such as this one, were marketed to soldiers, sailors and Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees. They often contained sentimental messages or with idealized images of camp life, either military or CCC. This cover is stamped with the words to the song “Mother,” copyrighted in 1915 with lyrics by Howard Johnson and music by Theodore Morse, a song which was quite well known. The cover also stamped with, “Happy Days in the C.C.C.”, which may also be a reference to the popular Depression era song “Happy Days Are Here Again”. “Happy Days” was also the name of a privately owned, national CCC newspaper.
