Please consider including the MHS in your end of year giving

“I wish you an happy new Year, and many happy Years—and all the Blessings of Life. Who knows but this Year may be more prosperous for our Country than any We have seen. For my own Part I have hopes that it will. Great Blessings are in store for it, and they may come this Year as well as another. You and I however must prepare our Minds to enjoy the Prosperity of others not our own. In Poverty and Symplicity, We shall be happy, whenever our Country is so.”
Featured Item from the MHS Collection

“One soldier, on the left, finds a stocking in his box stuffed with all sorts of things. Another right behind him, has got a meerschaum pipe, just what he has been wishing for ever so long …”

This illustration depicts Santa Claus distributing gifts to Union soldiers during the Civil War. It appeared on the cover of the 3 January 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly and was the first of 33 representations of Santa that political cartoonist Thomas Nast created for the magazine between 1863 and 1886. Although Thomas Nast didn’t invent the idea of Santa Claus as “chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,” he played an undeniable role in how people from the Civil War onward “see” Santa.

While many on the home front were experiencing a Christmas marked by wartime deprivation, the soldiers in Nast’s illustration revel in the distribution of gift boxes and Christmas festivities. Despite the chill in the air, their excitement is palpable. Harper’s sets the scene on page 6: “Children, you mustn’t think that Santa Claus comes to you alone. You see him in the picture on pages 8 and 9 throwing out boxes to the soldiers and in the one on page 1 you see what they contain. In the fore-ground you see a little drummer-boy, who, on opening his Christmas box, beholds a Jack-in-a-box sprung up, much to his astonishment … One soldier, on the left, finds a stocking in his box stuffed with all sorts of things. Another right behind him, has got a meerschaum pipe, just what he has been wishing for ever so long …” Read more about this image and Thomas Nast.
Upcoming January Programs
On Wednesday, 6 January, at 5:30 PM, Joanne B. Freeman, Yale University; Peter S. Onuf, University of Virginia; Rachel A. Shelden, Penn State University; Erik B. Alexander, Southern Illinois University; and moderator Ted Widmer present “At Noon on the 20th Day of January”: Contested Elections in American History.

On Monday, 11 January, at 5:30 PM, Alea Henle and Peter Drummey, MHS, present Rescued from Oblivion: Historical Cultures in the Early United States.

On Tuesday, 12 January, at 5:15 PM, Zachary Bennett, Connecticut College, presents Water Over the Dam: The Destruction of Colonial New England’s River Fisheries with comment by Matthew McKenzie, University of Connecticut.

On Thursday, 14 January, at 5:30 PM, Agnès Delahaye, University of Lyon, presents Settling the Good Land—Governance & Promotion in John Winthrop’s New England, 1620–1650.

On Tuesday, 19 January, at 5:15 PM, Rachel Walker, University of Hartford, presents High Brow, Low Brow: Phrenology, Fashion & Female Activism in the 19th Century with comment by Sari Altschuler, Northeastern University.

On Thursday, 21 January, at 5:15 PM, Traci Parker, University of Massachusetts—Amherst, presents Revolutionary Weddings: Marriage in the Black Panther Party with comment by Robyn Spencer, CUNY—Lehman College.

On Tuesday, 26 January, at 5:15 PM, Sarah Ketchley, University of Washington, presents Excavating Egyptology: The Emma B. Andrews Diary Project with comment by Jennifer Stertzer, University of Virginia.

Visit www.masshist.org/events for more information and to register for programs.
Interested in Viewing Past Programs?
If you missed a program or would like to revisit the material presented, please visit www.masshist.org/video or our YouTube channel. A selection of past programs is just a click away.
Share Your COVID-19 Experience(s)

The MHS invites you to contribute your COVID-19 experience(s) to our collection. Record your experiences on a daily, weekly, or intermittent basis. You can contribute your thoughts and images online. Visit our COVID-19 web display to learn more and to share your thoughts. Or, you can keep a journal and donate it to the MHS. Contact collections@masshist.org for more information.  
 
Thank you to everyone who has shared so far. If you have not yet done so or would like to contribute again, please visit www.masshist.org/projects/covid/index.php. You can also read what others have shared.

Our Members are the heart of the MHS community and an integral part of the MHS story. Become a Member to help make possible the Society’s mission to promote the study of American history. Receive benefits including invitations to enhanced Member-only events; free or discounted admission to special programs; and access to publications such as our calendar of events, newsletter, and Annual Report. Learn more at www.masshist.org/members.