As a young girl, I wrote letters to Santa. I would put down my carefully written requests in crayon on construction paper, asking for a toy or two and wishing the big man a Merry Christmas. How they got to the North Pole was unclear to me, and yet somehow that dollhouse or art kit still appeared under the tree on Christmas morning. Magic!
All of those childhood memories flooded back when I started noticing photos of children mailing letters to Santa Claus in our collections, most dating to more than a hundred years ago. Some kids left nothing to chance, handing their important correspondence directly to the postal carrier, as seen in the two photos below:
Other children trusted in the security of the neighborhood mailbox and dropped the letters inside:
The tradition of mailing letters to Santa continues at some level, even in an age of email and texting, as evidenced by this Letters to Santa Claus box spotted just a few years ago by photographer Carol M. Highsmith.
Do you have any memories of writing your gift wishes on paper and mailing them off to the North Pole in hopes that Santa Claus would grant them?
Learn More:
- View more images of and related to Santa Claus in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog.
- If you would like to read more about Old Saint Nick and how he appears throughout the Library of Congress’ collections, check out these blogs featuring Santa Claus.
Comments (3)
Wonderful photos. What an inspiration!
As a young kid guy growing up in Minnesota my recall of a letter to Santa went to my godfather Uncle Leo in family tradition of gifting from god parents. One year i had sued a postal stamp recycled off an old letter which was removed by my older sister Mary Lou with a wash cloth. Which also removed the post cancelation stamp ink mark from stamp. That year, sis Mary Lou got roller skates. Myself, paper airplane model in a recycled oat meal box. Best – us to all at Library of Congress – Leo Thiner – American Artist
My mother taught me well as I mailed a Thank you note to Santa after he delivered the items I’d asked for. My thank you letter ended up in the local newspaper as it was apparently unusual for Santa to get a Thank you!