A brief history of sending letters to Santa

December 16, 2015 12:37 PM

Children have been sending letters to Santa for well over a century now, and for much of that time those letters don't look very different from today's. Children want toys, and they want to convince Santa that they ought to get them. But where did that tradition come from, and how did it develop into its modern form? How did we come to believe that Santa lives at the North Pole and that the postal service can carry letters to Santa? What kinds of things have changed in the things children ask for over time? The Smithsonian's trying to deliver some answers for the holidays. (Previously: 1, 2).
posted by sciatrix (7 comments total)

Children have been sending letters to Santa for well over a century now, and for much of that time those letters don't look very different from today's.

You be the judge.
posted by entropicamericana at 12:41 PM on December 16, 2015 [4 favorites]

*ahem*
Dear Santa: Please bring me a tool box. I don’t want much as you have been busy making ammunition this year instead of toys. -RHBoyd TN1917
posted by barchan at 1:01 PM on December 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

A brief history of children sending letters to Satan.
posted by maxsparber at 1:17 PM on December 16, 2015 [3 favorites]

A brief history of Steve Albini answering letters sent to Santa.
posted by alex_skazat at 1:23 PM on December 16, 2015 [3 favorites]

Wow, that Smithsonian link is absolutely fascinating; I knew hardly any of it. I certainly didn't know this:

The earliest Santa letters are similarly didactic, usually coming from St. Nicholas, rather than written to him. The minister Theodore Ledyard Cuyler recalled receiving “an autograph letter from Santa Claus, full of good counsels” during his childhood in 1820s western New York. In the 1850s, Fanny Longfellow (wife of the poet Henry Wadsworth) wrote her three children letters each Christmas that commented on their behavior over the previous year and how they could improve it.

“[Y]ou have picked up some naughty words which I hope you will throw away as you would sour or bitter fruit,” Santa explained in an 1853 letter. “Try to stop to think before you use any, and remember if no one else hears you God is always near.” In an era before childhood was celebrated as a distinct period of a person’s life, gratifying kids’ imaginations was less important than teaching them manners that would speed them toward adulthood.

Kids must have hated Santa back then ("Fuck you, Santa!").
posted by languagehat at 3:12 PM on December 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

From entropicamericana's link: "Dear Santa: Please bring me a horse not a live horse but a horse that is not alive. This is all I will ask for. Chambers Denison PA1904"

What is this I don't even
posted by bryon at 11:38 PM on December 16, 2015

well, he got himself a brand new beatin' stick he wants to try out, OBVIOUSLY


[it's a Family Circus/Dennis the Menace (US) style misunderstanding of idioms in an allegedly humorous fashion!]
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 9:39 PM on December 25, 2015 [1 favorite]