Christmas – the DLG B

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.

Waycross Journal, December 16, 1902