Free Republic

From the Currier & Ives vault, and slightly re-colored by your faithful correspondent, a card to wish you and yours a Happy New Year.

For a time we had a "Currier & Ives winter" look hereabouts. No horse-drawn sleighs, of course. But the landscape had an old-fashioned look to it; actual white stuff, everywhere, not yet turned dingy brown by snow-blowers and plows. {Eight Currier & Ives prints}

During the 19th century, improvements in various printing technologies, including lithography, chromolithography, and the rotary press, ushered in an era of popular art. Currier & Ives (and others) produced inexpensive prints; L. Prang & Co. (and more) sold Christmas cards; periodicals such as Harper's New Monthly Magazine included drawings by Thomas Nast and others. Because they were mass-produced by the standards of the time, many of these works have survived to the present day, giving us a kind of window on the past -- images of Christmastime in the 1800s.

FINDING the perfect gift has long been a national pastime. But the celebration of Christmas, and the culture of gift giving that accompanies the holiday, have changed significantly in America over the years. Economic and social pressures have transformed how, and with whom, we celebrate Christmas, altering it from a holiday that was at times illegal, or limited to adult parties, or a gift-giving child-centered extravaganza like today's. There are several popular misconceptions about the origins of the American version of the holiday. To start, Christmas was actually suppressed in New England's colonial days. The Puritans found no affirmative command...