Author: Donnie Summerlin

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Letters to Santa

Santa Claus at a desk looking through a Directory of Boys and Girls, Waycross Evening Herald, December 22, 1911
Waycross Evening Herald, December 22, 1911

The tradition of children writing letters to Santa Claus  rose in popularity in the second half of the nineteenth century in the United States. By the early 1900s, newspapers in south Georgia began publishing these letters in their December issues. They provide amusing and sometimes poignant insight into Christmas culture, familial relationships, charity, war, and consumerism from a century ago. The letters hint at other traditions related to Santa Claus, including his list of good and bad children and the practice of leaving foods for him to eat. The letters reproduced below and hundreds of others can be found in the South Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive.

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Waycross Journal, December 16, 1902

Letter to Santa from Willie Thomas, 1902.

 

Bainbridge Search Light, December 15, 1911

Letter to Santa Claus from Eva Lucile Chandler. 1911.

 

Daily Times Enterprise (Thomasville), December 24, 1918

Letter to Santa from Lula Mae Daniels. 1918.

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Valdosta Times, December 12, 1905

Letter to Santa Claus from Eva Wilby, 1905.

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Americus Times-Recorder, December 11, 1913

Letter to Santa from William Merritt. 1913.

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Daily Times Enterprise (Thomasville), December 24, 1918

Letter to Santa from the Allagood sisters, 1918.

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Americus Times-Recorder, December 11, 1913

Letter to Santa from James Johnson, 1913.

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South Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive Expansion

The Digital Library of Georgia is pleased to announce the expansion of the South Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive:

http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/sgnewspapers

The South Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive now provides access to fifteen newspaper titles published in nine south Georgia cities (Albany, Americus, Bainbridge, Brunswick, Cuthbert, Tifton, Thomasville, Valdosta, and WaycroAdvertisement. "The Buick. Excells all Cars of Equal Price. And ranks with the $3,000.00 cars in workmanship and engines."ss) from 1845 to 1922. Consisting of over 141,000 newspaper pages, the archive provides historical images that are both full-text searchable and can be browsed by date.

The archive now includes the following Athens newspaper titles: Albany Herald (1892-1893, 1900-1901, 1906), Albany News (1867-1892), Bainbridge Democrat (1872-1909), Bainbridge Search Light/Post-Search Light (1901-1922), Brunswick Advertiser/Advertiser and Appeal (1875-1889), Cuthbert Appeal (1866-1886), Tifton Gazette (1892-1919), Waycross Headlight (1884-1887), Waycross Herald (1892-1914), and Waycross Journal (1901-1914) in addition to the titles previously included in the archive: Albany Patriot (1845-1866), Americus Times Recorder (1881-1921), Sumter Republican (1870-1885), Thomasville Times Enterprise (1873-1922), Valdosta Times (1908-1912).

The South Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive is a project of the Digital Library of Georgia as part of the Georgia HomePLACE initiative. The project is supported with federal LSTA funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.

Other newspaper archives available through the Digital Library of Georgia include the Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive (1847-1922), the Macon Telegraph Archive (1826-1908), the Athens Historic Newspapers Archive (1827-1928), the Columbus Enquirer Archive (1828-1890), the Milledgeville Historic Newspapers Archive (1808-1920), the Southern Israelite Archive (1929-1986), the Red and Black Archive (1893-2006), and the Mercer Cluster Archive (1920-1970) (by jodi at dresshead.com). These archives can be accessed at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/MediaTypes/Newspapers.html

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