Presented by the Camron-Stanford House
"Many a merry Christmas, friend, Health, contentment, joy and bliss; More delights in thought I send, Than I can convey in this. With the now departing year May your cares and sorrows cease; May the new one, drawing near, Bring you happiness and peace."
(from "A Christmas Wish" a poem by S. Conant Foster, 1883.)
From writing letters to Santa Claus to reading A Christmas Carol to decorating our trees, there are several holiday traditions that, for many of us, are important to celebrating the winter holidays. You might be surprised to learn that some of these traditions were popularized in the 19th century.
The Camron-Stanford House is pleased to present A Very Victorian Christmas. We invite you to explore how different people in the United States celebrated the festive season throughout the 19th century, and learn about the history of a few of your most treasured holiday traditions.
Christmas Banned in Boston
Christmas faced very hard times in the early history of the United States. In fact, Christmas was banned by the Puritans in Massachusetts in 1648. For many years, Christmas was a quietly honored holiday, and looked quite different from the Christmas celebrations many of us know today.
"For preventing disorders arising in several places within this jurisdiction, by reason of some still observing such festivals as were superstitiously kept in other countries, to the great dishonor of God and offence of others, it is therefore ordered by this Court and the authority thereof, that whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way, upon such accounts as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall pay for every such offence five shillings as a fine to the country."
(Above text: Records of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England, Printed by order of the Legislature, 1650-1660)
Writing over 200 years later on December 25, 1856, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow detected a state of transition about the way New Englanders thought about Christmas:
". . . The old puritan feeling prevents it from being a cheerful, hearty holiday; though every year makes it more so."
By 1860, fourteen states had adopted Christmas as a legal holiday. A newspaper remarked in 1861,
"Even our presbyterian friends who have hitherto steadfastly ignored Christmas—threw open their church doors and assembled in force to celebrate the anniversary of the Savior’s birth."
In 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant formally declared Christmas a federal holiday in the United States.
(image: Puritain govenor interrupting Christmas celebrations in New England. Illustration by Howard Pyle, 1883)
The Business of Season’s Greetings
In 1843 Henry Cole commissioned an artist to design a greeting card for Christmas. The illustration (shown here) featured a group of people around a dinner table and a simple Christmas message. By the 1880s the sending of cards had become hugely popular, creating a lucrative industry that produced 11.5 million cards in 1880.
Victoria's Tree
The popularization of the modern Christmas tree is a gift from Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their nine children who celebrated with a plethora of small fir trees at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Prince Albert brought the custom with him from his native Bavaria, where the tradition of having evergreen trees in the home for winter celebrations had been done for centuries..
Eleanor Stanley, maid of honor to Queen Victoria from 1842 to 1862, wrote to her mother on Christmas Day in 1848 to describe how the royals observed the day.
“. . . the Queen and Prince already were standing by a large table covered with a white cloth, in the middle of which was a little fir-tree, in the German fashion, covered with bonbons, gilt walnuts, and little coloured tapers. I sent a bonbon as a Christmas box to little Blanche, which I took off the tree. . . . The children had each a little table with their new toys, and were running about in great glee showing them off; Prince Alfred, in a glorious tinsel helmet that almost covered his face, was shooting us all with a new gun, and Princess Alice was making us admire her dolls, etc. They had one Christmas tree among them, like us, but the Queen, Prince, and Duchess had each one, and altogether I never saw anything prettier than the whole arrangement.”
The true origin of the Christmas tree, though, is thought to be much older. The use of evergreen trees and boughs during symbolic winter traditions have been documented in Ancient Egypt, Rome, Scandanavia, and elsewhere.
(Image: Queen Victoria's Christmas Tree, Via Hulton Archive, Getty Images.)
The American Christmas Tree
The ornamented pine tree quickly gained popularity in America as an emblem of Christmastime. Cities and towns conducted Christmas tree lighting festivals which often featured special games and activities for local children.
Both at home and at public celebrations, small gifts of dolls, books, and sweet treats were nestled in the branches of the Christmas tree and distributed to the children in attendance.
Christmas trees were also important centerpieces in the parlors of the well-to-do. Lady’s magazines printed templates and instructions for creating Christmas tree ornaments at home. Such items included decorated paper baskets, paper chains, strings of popcorn, dried fruit, and homemade ornaments.
“At the top of the tree, where the ornaments should be light, paper flowers, such as roses and chrysanthemums, look well. Stars, hearts and other shapes cut from bright paper, and threaded on long strands of yellow or red wool, can be festooned among the brandies with excellent effect.”
Planting the Christmas Tree by Jessie E. Ringwalt for Godey’s Lady’s Book, December 1880.
(Pictured opposite: An illustration of an American family at Christmastime by C.J. Taylor for Puck Magazine, December 8, 1897. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)
The Jolly Old Elf
Prior to the 1860s, what Santa looked like would have varied wildly depending on who you asked. Based on the lore surrounding Christianity's Saint Nicholas, the generous gift-delivering figure was widely celebrated around Christmastime throughout much of Western Europe as far back as the 16th century. Known as St. Nick, Father Christmas, or Kris Kringle, his look and known traits would have depended largely on where you lived and with whom you were celebrating the holiday.
In 1863 during the Civil War, the first iconic image of Santa Claus was drawn by Thomas Nast and appeared in Harper’s Weekly as part of a two-page illustration. Nast drew Santa as a jolly old elf who could fit down a chimney, just as Clement Moore described him in The Night Before Christmas. Nast’s 1873 drawing (below) put the elf-like figure of Moore's creation in perspective for the Victorians.
Other illustrators such as Frank L. Baum, Arthur Rackham and Jesse Wilcox Smith drew the famous personage as well. Most, like Wilcox’s image (below) continued the elfin tradition.
The modern vision of Santa is attributed to Michigan-born illustrator Haddon Sundblom who created the famous drawing for Coca Cola in 1931. His human-scaled Santa had undergone a growth spurt which would be copied by other 20th century artists like Norman Rockwell. Sundbloom’s illustrations for Coke continued for more than 30 years and became iconic for the modern era, just as Nast’s elf was for Victorians.
Humbug!
Charles Dickens’ Gift
A morality tale that propounds the concept that the more fortunate should care for the less fortunate, A Christmas Carol was a short novella written in 1843 by Charles Dickens. Sayings like "Humbug!" "He’s such a Scrooge!" and "Merry Christmas!" are all derived from the story.
Although Dickens intended to rouse public protest for the plight of poor children by writing his book, it’s popularity and longevity had the unintended consequence of actually changing the way Christmas was viewed in Western culture. Rather than a religious observance lasting for 12 days, Christmas became a one or two-day public holiday. Following its publication, Christmas became seen as a time to be generous to the less fortunate and to gather with family and close friends to make merry.
Dickens began to write A Christmas Carol in September and finished the book in six weeks. Released on December 19th, the first run of 6,000 copies sold out by Christmas Eve.
Since then, it has never been out of print.
(Image: Engraving featuring a scene of Scrooge's Third visitor, from Charles Dickens: "A Christmas Carol". Illustration by John Leech, 1843.)
Visions of Sugarplums
Initially Christmas gifts for children were rather modest – fruit, nuts, sweets, and small handmade trinkets hung on the Christmas tree. At the start of Queen Victoria’s reign, children’s toys tended to be handmade, and hence, expensive. During the 19th century the factories that rose from the Industrial Revolution began to mass-produce toys, games, dolls, and books at more affordable prices, making them accessible to many middle class families. By the late 1800s and early 1900s, the winter holidays contributed to a large portion of retails sales across the country.
For those who could not afford the extra expense of Christmas gifts, the holiday could be a reminder of their misfortune. However, as Christmas became more and more synonymous with peace and generosity (in part thanks to Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol) communities began to make provisions for poor children so that all could join in the cheer of Christmas.
Communities and institutions would hold "Christmas Trees" which meant a distribution of presents – often to those who would otherwise go without a Christmastime treat. The scene pictured here is an example of such Yuletide charity directed at children.
(Image: “XMas Tree Distributing Gifts,” circa 1900, Bain News Service; Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)
The San Francisco Orphan’s Asylum was a recipient of such charitable donations. In 1890, the San Francisco Examiner called to the public to stop donating because the Orphan’s Christmas Fund was “full to overflowing.”
As well as money, San Franciscans had contributed “two or three thousand books, hundreds of dolls, and knives, games, puzzles and toys of all kinds without number” to the fund. The Examiner claimed that every child in the city would receive a present and if anyone was left out, it would be because they couldn’t be found.
(Image: Christmas at a Children’s Temporary home in New York, circa 1900, Bain News Service; Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)
While heartwarming displays such as these did well to soothe the consciences and probably egos of rich Americans, there was also a pervading sense of mistrust targeted at the poor. A semi-fictionalized story appeared in the December 1884 issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book illustrated this fear:
“False semblances of the needy were almost as frequently to be met with as the real, it must be confessed; and it is no wonder that so many of those whom oft-repeated deceptions had sophisticated, should have become callous to these appeals and learned to pass the suppliants by even at the risk of neglecting deserving objects of charity.”
So while Christmas was idealized as a time of giving, there were still those who would rather forgo generosity than risk being taken advantage of by a schemer.
(Image: "The Streets of New York – Running the Gauntlet of Horrors," for Puck Magazine, November 26, 1879; Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)
Christmas Dinner
Much like today, many families in the 19th Century celebrated Christmas at home with a festive dinner. Well-to-do Americans used the occasion to set out an elaborate feast. It was not uncommon for such feasts to include multiple courses including soups, salads, several dishes of meat and fish, and an assortment of desserts. Plum pudding – served en-flambé and topped with a sprig of holly– was considered absolutely essential.
Below is a Christmas Dinner Menu from the December 1880 edition of Godey’s Lady’s Book – the Victorian lady’s guide to all things fashionable.
(Image: William Letts Oliver Family - Christmas in Oakland 1901, courtesy the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley).
As you might expect, these meals required hours and even days of preparation and were prepared by domestic servants. Rather than spending time with their own families, household cooks and kitchen maids were responsible for cooking, plating, and serving this extravagant meal to their employers in the dining room.
By contrast, less wealthy families could expect to sit down to a more simple meal of beef or rabbit accompanied by a few dishes of root vegetables. Luckily, Christmas Pudding recipes could be made in more economical ways so it wasn’t only the well-off who savored this Holiday treat.
(Image: A selection of Christmas cuisine from Mrs. Beeton's Cookery Book: and Household Guide by Isabella Beeton (London: Ward, Lock & Co. 1898)).
Working on Christmas
When we think of a “Victorian Christmas” today, we often picture a large and well-decorated tree, a roaring fire, children and their parents all surrounded by gifts and treats in a cozy parlor. However, for a large population, this was not the reality.
Working-class and poor Americans had a vastly different way of celebrating not only in what they ate, but also in where they gathered, what gifts they might receive (if any), and who they spent Christmas with.
Domestic servants, for example, were expected to perform their regular duties of cleaning, cooking, and dressing their employers alongside the extra work that went into Christmas preparations. Hanging decorations, bringing out the family’s best dinnerware, and preparing an extravagant meal were all part of the job. Employees were sometimes given tokens of appreciation by their employers at Christmastime, but there was no blending of social spheres and servants were not included in the family’s celebrations.
(Image: “Christmas Comes But Once a Year,” by Charles Green for Pears’ Pictorial, Christmas 1896; Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Three servants, two maids and a footman, serve Christmas dinner to their employers in their richly decorated dining room.)
Oftentimes, working people lived in dormitories dedicated to their profession like the newsboys pictured here, or else in private boarding houses alongside relative strangers. For those who worked as street vendors, agricultural workers, day laborers, and seamstresses, Christmas would have meant a slightly elevated dinner in a communal dining room.
Notice the extent of Christmas decorations at this newsboys' home include a painted poster of a Christmas tree and a few strands of lights in the window. While the spirit of charity and giving abounded, this image shows how very different Christmas celebrations were for the working class.
(Image: Christmas dinner at a home for newsboy’s in New York, circa 1900, Bain News Service; Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)
Working Class Christmas
Lower-income families who gathered in their homes for Christmas celebrated in a similar way to their wealthier counterparts, but at an understandably economized level. The illustration here shows the disparity between classes buying Christmas dinner. On the left, a richly dressed man purchases a large goose, while on the right a more modestly clad woman peruses thin, boney cuts of meat. In the center, two children regard each other, seeming to know the social gap between them. While this image is certainly exaggerated, it points to the truth that while the wealthy over-indulged on life’s finest treats, Christmas was a time of pronounced scarcity for others.
(Image: “New York City.– Rich and Poor: or, The Two Christmas Dinners.– A Scene in Washington Market, Sketched from Life,” from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, January 4, 1873; Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)
The Spirit of Giving
Wealthy Victorians were aware of their position to do good at Christmastime. Newspapers and lady’s magazines emphasized the importance of sharing the spirit of goodwill and generosity to those who were less fortunate. In December, newspapers printed hundreds of notices for various aid societies’ charitable events. The Ladies’ Aid Society of West Oakland, for example, gave a “Christmas tree entertainment at Hansen's Hall last evening for the benefit of the poor of that Neighborhood.” Likewise, the German Ladies Association of San Francisco held a concert and ball whose proceeds benefited the poor.
The spirit of giving extended to the municipal government level as well. Each year, the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco voted to allot money to various institutions to mark the season. The Industrial School was given $150, the Hospital & Alms House $150, and County Jail $125, to provide inmates with a Christmas dinner.
(Image: A man dressed as Santa Clause rings a bell for charitable donations. A not unfamiliar sight even today during the holiday season! “Xmas Charity,” circa 1900, Bain News Service; Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)
Beyond municipal aid, wealthy individuals often took Christmas as an opportunity to demonstrate both their wealth and Christian sense of generosity. An article in the San Francisco Examiner titled “The Paupers’ XMas,” describes one such occasion at the city’s Alms House. It takes pains to thank each donor by name as well as to pointedly criticize “any taxpayer who felt disposed to grumble at the trifling expense” taken to support the Alms House. There were 565 people taking refuge at the Alms House, including 95 women and 70 children. Supposedly, “upwards of 100 turkeys, flanked with mountains of mince pies and barrels of fruit, were placed upon the groaning tables.” No doubt articles like these were exaggerated and served to both massage the ego’s of the rich and also understate the plight of the poor.
(Image: “Christmas at a home for the poor,” from Harper’s Weekly Magazine, 1876; Courtesy of the Library of Congress. For those experiencing homelessness or without a place to gather on the holiday, charities offered the small respite of a simple meal and a roof to eat it under.)
Beyond public displays of charitable giving, wealthy women were encouraged to show their gratitude closer to home. The lady of the house would distribute what was called a “Christmas Box” to domestic servants and tradespeople. Small gifts of fabric, fruit, and candies were popular tokens of appreciation to household staff. One etiquette writer emphasized the importance of bestowing a Christmas Box to one’s postal carrier as “he is the tangible link between ourselves and the absent, who brings us dearly prized messages through wind and storm.” (Godey’s Dec. 1888).
(Image: “A Merry Christmas,” in Godey’s Lady’s Book, December 1888; Courtesy of the Library of Congress. A wealthier woman visits the house of a working-class family and bestows gifts on the children.)
Slavery and Christmas Charity
It is important to recognize that in the earlier half of the nineteenth century, not all people in the United States were free. In many states, slavery remained legal until the early 1860s. For enslaved people, the coming of Christmas likely meant additional labor added to their lists – preparations of large, festive meals, readying the home for family gatherings and celebrations, and other preparations for the season.
In the spirit of Christmas charity, enslaved individuals were often granted a few days of respite between Christmas and the New Year. During this brief time, the enslaved were often not expected to complete their work, and many were allowed to travel short distances to visit nearby family and friends. Celebrations that included music, singing, dancing, and drinking were generally allowed. Some enslavers, however, were fearful that the short break would inspire rebellion and runaways, and many instead placed additional heavy restrictions on the enslaved during the holiday season.
(Image: “Winter Holidays in the Southern States – Plantation Frolic on Christmas Eve.” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, 1857. Library of Congress.)
The exchanging of gifts between the enslaved and their enslavers was a complex social dance. It was generally expected that enslavers would extend charity to the enslaved during the holiday season. However, their gifts typically came in the form of basic necessities, such as shoes, clothing, food, and winter blankets. The enslaved, in turn, were expected to participate in games and performative generosity that reinforced power dynamics.
Frederick Douglas, an abolitionist and formerly enslaved man, argued in his memoirs that these simple comforts were merely a way for enslavers to distract the enslaved by dampening any whispers of rebellion.
“These holidays serve as conductors, or safety-valves, to carry off the rebellious spirit of enslaved humanity.”
Frederick Douglass, from “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” (1845).
(Image: "Preparing for Christmas. – Sketched by Thomas Worth." Harper's Weekly Magazine, December 26, 1888. Library of Congress)
A New Celebration of Faith
While Christmas was almost certainly the most widely-celebrated holiday in the United States in the 19th century, Hanukkah was gaining traction in the Western world.
Hanukkah, a Jewish tradition observed over eight days, commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem during the second century B.C.E. This site was believed to be the location where Jews had risen up against their oppressors during the Maccabean Revolt. Hanukkah, which means '"dedication" in Hebrew, is typically celebrated on the 25th day of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar, and falls in November or December on the Gregorian calendar.
In the 1860s, Hanukkah was just starting to get its foot off the ground as a major holiday in the United States. Inspired by the way Christmas activities drew people to Christian churches, American Rabbis began introducing winter celebrations of their own at their synagogues, largely to give Jewish children an opportunity to honor and celebrate their own heritage. In synagogues across the country, the story of Hanukkah was told, symbolic candles were lit, and hymns were sung. The traditions gained traction towards the end of the 19th century. In the early 20th century, following the commercialization of Christmas, holiday traditions such as gift giving became normalized during Hanukkah celebrations.
(image: Hanukkah celebration by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association at the Academy of Music in New York City, 1880. Illustration in "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper", 3 January 1880.)
Christmas at the Camron-Stanford House
Every year the Camron-Stanford House looks forward to welcoming visitors for the holiday season, especially during our annual Holiday Open House. When visiting, you will see how we have decked our halls with a classic 19th century spirit in mind. Our Christmas tree glows warmly in the window of the Family Parlor, decorated with 19th century ornaments and candles, and holiday trinkets and gifts are available to explore throughout the house.
The Camron-Stanford House is the last of the beautiful 19th century mansions that once surrounded Lake Merritt and was the home to five influential families before becoming the first museum in the City of Oakland. The restored home helps visitors time travel to the 1880s and enter meticulously recreated living spaces. In addition, the house presents various exhibits throughout the year that focus on aspects of Victorian life and culture.
The work of the Camron-Stanford House, including public programs, exhibits, and upkeep of the historic landmark home are funded through the generous support of our community. Please consider making a donation or becoming a member, and help us continue our mission of providing educational and joyful programs while caring for this landmark home.
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Camron-Stanford House