Thomas Nast is credited
with creating our popular image of Santa Claus. Below, we present
Thomas Nast's Earliest published works of Santa Claus and Christmas
Traditions. All of these illustrations appeared in Harper's Weekly
newspapers in the years 1863 -1865. This is a fabulous source of information
on the History of Santa Claus, and the origins of our Christmas Traditions.
It can be seen that our popular image of Santa was first introduced by Nast
during the Civil War. Thomas Nast's picture of Santa would continue to
evolve over the years, but it is fascinating to study these early
images and spot all the Santa traditions that we still practice today.
Click on the Illustrations to be taken to large images and detailed
descriptions of the Santa Claus artwork. Each original leaf pictured below
is over 140 years old.
