Santa Claus in Printed Ephemera

"Hello - Merry Christmas." An early twentieth-century postcard featuring cutting-edge candlestick telephone communications technology. See also Hello, Merry Christmas! Operator, Can You Help Me, Help Me If You Please .

What kid wouldn't want a Simplex toy typewriter that's endorsed by Santa and works well enough to "write a good business letter"? If you're not convinced yet, take a look at the other side of this advertising card to see samples of the typewriting. For a later Santa Simplex ad, see Santa's Favorite Simplex Typewriters, 1908 . Simplex Typewriters $1.00 up. Novel and useful holiday gifts. Anyone can use them. My dear child, Come and see my grand display, more wonderful than your wildest dream of Fairy Land. Yours for fun, Santa. At my headquarters. Walter S. Calvert, 3 Main St., New London, Conn. Nicely finished machines that will write a good business letter and machines so simple a child learning its first letters will be helped. Presents that please and benefit the user and reflect credit on the giver.

Now even Santa knows what it feels like to be held hostage by all the holiday advertising!

"'Errymay Istmaschray! Ellen, Carl, and Donna Jean Ed, 1933. NRA." Cartoonist Carl Ed (1890-1959) created this card for himself, his wife Ellen, and his daughter Donna Jean in 1933. The Santa impersonators are characters from Ed's Harold Teen comic strip. That's Harold Teen himself tipping his Santa hat on the left, and his sidekick Shadow Smart is doing the same on the right. The teenagers' playful greeting of "Errymay Istmaschray" is, of course, Pig Latin for "Merry Christmas." The eagle and "NRA" on the toy sack refer to the National Recovery Administration , one of the New Deal agencies that U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established in 1933 to combat the effects of the Great Depression .

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"A Merry Xmas. He's looking for you." So watch out! You better not cry, and you better not pout! You know why.

This colorful scene of a brightly lit Christmas tree shining among towering skyscrapers is the illustration on the cover of a folder containing a Santa and Me Photo of a bespectacled Claus who's holding a wary-looking kid (below).

"Santa Claus Soap, best for the laundry. Made only by the N. K. Fairbank Company, Chicago, St. Louis, New York. Carqueville, Chicago. Fairbank's Santa Claus Soap."

Hmm, so now Santa and the Easter Bunny are in cahoots?!?! It just doesn't bode well for us naughty kids. 8-) A Message from an Old Friend There are some folks so new fashioned They've laid aside the habit Of believing in a Santa Claus Or even an Easter Rabbit. And to save our reputation Where perhaps it may be shaken We just went off together And had our pictures taken. We'll send you one at Christmas And one at Easter too And when there's folks that doubt us We'll refer them all to you.

"X-mas Greetings. N. America. Merry Christmas Series 403." Even Santa Claus noticed the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914! See also Panama Canal Drawing Book, 1914 :

"Try Atmore's Mince Meat and Genuine English Plum Pudding." Santa looks likes he's sending plum pudding bombs down the chimney to surprise the unsuspecting inhabitants!

I hope that plane has air brakes! Christmas Greetings Let's light the Yule-log old Santa to greet When he slides down the chimney white with snow It lies there crackling and glowing with heat, And my wishes for you warmly glow.

I sure hope Santa gets a new airplane this year! He's still making deliveries with his old biplane. 8-) Postmarked Airydale, Pa., Dec. 24, 1910.

"A Merry Christmas. The world is mine, this night I think / Said jolly St. Nick with a knowing wink. / For the children all say that where're I stop / I leave pretty presents fresh from the shop."

Adams Express Company is now a "publicly traded diversified equity fund," as Wikipedia puts it, but in the early part of the twentieth century it was still a shipping company, like UPS and FedEx are today. Back then, you could use this postcard to poetically alert a friend or relative to the imminent delivery of a Christmas present by the Adams Express Company. Adams Express Company Today I am sending by Adams Express A Christmas package to your address; And furthermore I wish to say, Don't open until Christmas day.

"Holiday Greetings of E. R. Barry, the Hanover St. Confectioner. Bufford." Although this advertising trade card likely dates to the 1880s or 1890s, E. R. Barry continued in business into the twentieth century, as evidenced by the text of an advertisement in The Manchester [New Hampshire] Directory, 1908 (Boston: Sampson and Murdock, 1907): "E. R. Barry Co., confectioners, caterers, and bakers, ice cream, etc. Dinner served from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 35 cents. Odd Fellows' Block, 81 and 89 Hanover Street, Manchester, N.H." See below for some other Victorian trade cards that feature Santa Claus:

A cardboard milk bottle cap with Santa Claus and greetings of the season.