A very old and long established name in the U.S. Death Care Industry, Messenger was founded in 1913 by Frank Messenger in Chicago, Illinois. We have grown to the leading supplier of funeral stationery products in the country today. The original products offered by Messenger were Sacred Art calendars, used for promotional advertising. In the 1930's, Messenger acquired the Auburn Greeting Card Co., and the business was relocated to Auburn, Indiana, into its current facility. At that time Messenger began producing and marketing funeral stationery to sell to funeral homes, as they were the principal buyers of sacred art calendars.
In the 1970's sales of funeral stationery products surpassed calendar sales as the company's largest product segment. And by the 1980's, Messenger achieved market leader status in the funeral stationery industry, where we remain today. This growth can in part be attributed to the fact that we were the first to coordinate the graphic themes of the stationery products. Utilizing licensed art of appropriate color and subject matter, the various stationery products necessary for conducting a funeral now matched each other. Prior to this, memorial folders, register books and acknowledgement cards were unmatched and plain.
There are many products and services Messenger was first to bring to the funeral industry. Some of the more notable examples are the introduction of wood and leather used for register book covers, micro-perforating multiple-up cards, thus eliminating hand cutting, same day service for personalized thank you cards and establishing stationery products as a merchandising center in funeral homes. Merchandising has enabled funeral directors to provide their families a choice in finding a more personalized, meaningful remembrance of their loved ones, while having a positive impact on the funeral home's profits.
In October of 2000, Messenger introduced a line of books and cards utilizing the licensed art of Thomas Kinkade, America's most collected living artist. Kinkade's art coupled with tasteful verses have provided even more choices appropriate to the American and Canadian family's needs. Also in late 2000, Messenger introduced retail packaging of funeral stationery. By bundling the essential stationery products needed for an average funeral with some appropriate accessory items in a gift shop-type presentation box, we have furnished funeral directors with an enhancement to their business and a product that provides the families they serve a meaningful remembrance.
In 2005, Messenger was the first funeral stationery manufacturer to introduce software that allows funeral directors to print Messenger stationery products right from their desktop. The Messenger Stationery Builder software prints Messenger memorial register books, service folders, acknowledgements, prayer cards, bookmarks and memorial candles. The software provides simple forms to enter information about the deceased and then merges this information into the stationery of choice, creating professional looking finished products.
Today, Messenger continues Frank Messenger’s legacy of providing funeral professionals with high quality, innovative products, fast product delivery, unsurpassed customer service, and tenured field sales and support. Messenger recently launched our popular Sacred Art series of coordinated stationery that utilizes some of the same timeless images that were once featured in our original calendar product line. We’ve also expanded our licensed art product offering to include artwork from Rick Kelley, Danny Hahlbohm, Precious Moments®, Wild Wings®, Molly West and more.