"North Pole" and Christmas, Santa Claus

Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM
Mon Dec 20 01:38:22 UTC 2004


That snopes report was wrong in several areas.

First, it's believed that Clement Clarke Moore did NOT write "A Night Before Christmas," but that Henry Livingston did. Since the poem origininally did not have an author's name attached to it, it would be safer to leave things that way.

Second, the reindeer thing was NOT invented in 1821. Many years ago, I extensively looked through this period of American history. I had found "reindeer" and Christmas in a poem of 1819. My work was given to the American Dialect Society and posted in the old archives, so essentially it's destroyed.

Third, reindeers are from up north, so "north pole" probably came very soon after the reindeer. I believe that I have evidence of "North Pole" and Santa in the 1840s BROTHER JONATHAN. I thought that would have been digitized by now. See the American Periodical Series cites below.

Fourth, Harper's Weekly is fully digitized. We can see that the Nast hits are from the 1870s, so he couldn't have coined it.

Fifth, about snopes. For some reason, snopes hasn't been kind to me. Snopes continues to run my "hot dog" work without giving me any credit. I told them about the "Big Apple-whore urban legend and the "Windy City"-Charles Dana urban legend, but snopes has never even responded to me.



(AMERICAN PERIODICAL SERIES ONLINE)
1.
THE RIGGINBOTHAMS.
BY ELLA RODMAN.. Peterson's Magazine (1849-1892). Philadelphia: Jan 1852. Vol. VOL. XXI., Iss. No. I.; p. 42 (6 pages)
Fourth page:
She fairly goraned as she thought of the pleasant little party she had invited for Chirstmas week, now near at hand, and wished the Higginbothams at the North Pole.


2.
ABOUT ME AND THE BIG-SEA-WATER.
Edward A Walker. Our Young Folks. An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls (1865-1873). Boston: May 1868. Vol. 4, Iss. 5; p. 280 (14 pages)
Sixth page:
But that was no sad Christmas; I doubt if there were many happier places in all the world than that homely chimney-corner at the North Pole.

3.
THE TRAPPER'S CHRISTMAS CAROL.
Appletons' Journal of Literature, Science and Art (1869-1876). New York: Jan 1, 1870. Vol. VOL. III., Iss. No. 40.; p. 15 (2 pages)

4.
Other 1 -- No Title
Scribner's Monthly (1870-1881). New York: Jan 1, 1870. p. 0_001 (83 pages)

5.
THE GOBLIN OF THE ICE,--OR CHRISTMAS AT THE NORTH POLE.; A LEGEND OF AN ISLAND IN THE ARCTIC SEA THAT WAS ASTRAY AND HAD BEEN STOLEN.
Scribner's Monthly (1870-1881). New York: Jan 1871. Vol. VOL. I., Iss. No. 3.; p. 246 (21 pages)


(NEWSPAPERARCHIVE)
     Titusville Morning Herald
Saturday, December 23, 1871  Titusville,  Pennsylvania

...we supposed had bis somewhere near the NORTH POLE, AND who made hia entry.....knowledge of the Christmas patron SAINT, AND for our part, we believe tho..



More information about the Ads-l mailing list