Out of the Box » Christmas letter http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box Notes from the Archives at The Library of Virginia Wed, 22 May 2013 17:44:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 All I Want For Christmas Is… http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/2012/12/19/all-i-want-for-christmas-is-2/ http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/2012/12/19/all-i-want-for-christmas-is-2/#comments Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:52:58 +0000 Bari http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/?p=6024 Cover of Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, 12 December 1907. (Image used courtesy Library of Virginia Special Collections.) Children mailing Santa Claus letters from the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce Collection, circa 1930s. (Image used courtesy Library of Virginia Special Collections.)

On 16 December 1895, 12-year-old Mamie M. Yates wrote a letter to Santa Claus. It read:

Dear Santa Claus,

I will write to you to tell you what I want you to bring me. I want a sled and Robinson Crusoe and a pair of nice gloves and some ribbon for my hair and a writing tablet and some candy, oranges, nuts, raisins, banannas [sic] and caramels and apples and a cap for my doll.

Your little girl,

Mamie M. Yates

The letter did not make it to the North Pole. It somehow ended up in the Lunenburg County courthouse filed in the clerk’s records and became part of the Lunenburg County (Va.) Clerk’s Records of John L. Yates, 1878-1934 circa (Barcode 1046171). John L. Yates, Mamie’s father, was the circuit court clerk for Lunenburg County at the time the letter was written. Although the letter did not reach its destination, I’m sure Santa had a good idea about what to bring Mamie for Christmas.

-Greg Crawford, Local Records Coordinator… read more »

]]> Cover of Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, 12 December 1907. (Image used courtesy Library of Virginia Special Collections.) Children mailing Santa Claus letters from the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce Collection, circa 1930s. (Image used courtesy Library of Virginia Special Collections.)

On 16 December 1895, 12-year-old Mamie M. Yates wrote a letter to Santa Claus. It read:

Dear Santa Claus,

I will write to you to tell you what I want you to bring me. I want a sled and Robinson Crusoe and a pair of nice gloves and some ribbon for my hair and a writing tablet and some candy, oranges, nuts, raisins, banannas [sic] and caramels and apples and a cap for my doll.

Your little girl,

Mamie M. Yates

The letter did not make it to the North Pole. It somehow ended up in the Lunenburg County courthouse filed in the clerk’s records and became part of the Lunenburg County (Va.) Clerk’s Records of John L. Yates, 1878-1934 circa (Barcode 1046171). John L. Yates, Mamie’s father, was the circuit court clerk for Lunenburg County at the time the letter was written. Although the letter did not reach its destination, I’m sure Santa had a good idea about what to bring Mamie for Christmas.

-Greg Crawford, Local Records Coordinator

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