Midcentury Christmas

A new book about Christmas in the post-war United States by Sarah Archer, coming in Fall, 2016 from Countryman Press & W.W. Norton!

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Get into the holiday spirit with these festive home accessories.

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Get Nostalgic for Christmas in the Booming Mid-Century Years

In her delightful and illuminating book Midcentury Christmas: Holiday Fads, Fancies and Fun from 1945 to 1970 (Countryman Press), Sarah Archer recalls a ti

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Christmas at Midcentury, When Aluminum Trees Replaced Victorian Evergreens

A new book by Sarah Archer explores the influence of the Space Race and Cold War on America's midcentury Christmas celebrations.

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A Wonderful Life: How Postwar Christmas Embraced Spaceships, Nukes, Cellophane

When I was kid in the 1980s, I assumed everything I knew about Christmas had existed since the beginning of time. So it was strange to grow ...

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1955 GENERAL ELECTRIC CLOCKS FOR CHRISTMAS GIFTS

Dozens of different GE clocks on display, for multiple members on your long Christmas list. December 25 will soon arrive, and the gift is unwrapped. The gift...

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Christmas in the Space Age: looking back at the wild, weird designs of mid-20th-century holidays

There are two critical periods for Christmas. One is the Victorian era. The other is the 1960s.

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Christmas time during WWII, Americans were encouraged to ‘Make do and Mend’

Sarah Archer explores the material culture of Christmas in post-war America in her book, "Midcentury Christmas."

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A Brief History of Santa’s Rocket Ship

Santa's Rocket Ship was used for holiday season promotions at malls in the Southern half of America for several decades before ending up in a former junkyard that is now an amusement park in Alaska.

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The Very American History Of Christmas Lights

Christmas lights are a uniquely American tradition. That’s not just because the first electric Christmas lights appeared in America. The tradition embodies a certain American-ness, an ingenuity and hunger for innovation, that’s easily overlooked. America doesn’t just make things. A...

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Santa’s Coming!

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P&G Ad for Ivory Snow

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Olivetti Holidays

19 x 27" poster for the Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter, 1953. Designed by Edigio Bonfante (1922 - 2004). :: Via SFMOMA 1957 Chri...

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The Perturbing Design of Santa's Workshop, as Seen in Film

Santa Claus is pretty great, for a lawless vigilante. He brings toys to good little girls and boys while ruthlessly dashing the hopes and dreams of terrible kids who kick the back of airline seats...

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"Very Modern Tastes"

Debating the pros and cons of “silver” versus “traditional” Christmas Trees in the early 1960′s, as depicted on Call the Midwife.

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What'd I Say? MONORAIL!

The John Wanamaker monorail, now in historic Memorial Hall in Philadelphia’s Please Touch Museum (which received NEH funding for remodeling), made its rounds of the eighth-floor toy department from 1946 to 1984 before the ingenious merchandising tool was nearly destined for the salvage heap.

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Everyone knows.