This weekend, my family got on the topic about the origins of Christmas and the development of the image of the modern-day Santa. I always assumed it was largely due to the illustrations of Norman Rockwell, but my mother asserted that it was much earlier with Harper’s illustrator, Thomas Nast, so I did some research and found a good explanation on the Ohio State University Library website:

Nast first drew Santa Claus for the 1862 Christmas season Harper’s Weekly cover and center-fold illustration to memorialize the family sacrifices of the Union during the early and, for the north, darkest days of the Civil War. Nast’s Santa appeared as a kindly figure representing Christmas, the holiday celebrating the birth of Christ. His use of Santa Claus was melancholy, sad for the faltering Union war effort in which Nast so fervently believed, and sad for the separation of soldiers and families. When Nast created his image of Santa Claus he was drawing on his native German tradition of Saint Nicholas, a fourth century bishop known for his kindness and generosity. In the German Christian tradition December 6 was (and is) Saint Nicholas day, a festival day honoring Saint Nicholas and a day of gift giving. Nast combined this tradition of Saint Nicholas with other German folk traditions of elves to draw his Santa in 1862.

Santa Claus for the 1862 Harper’s Weekly Christmas season

1920s Norman Rockwell for the Saturday Evening Post