Vintage Christmas: This 1866 Christmas Day menu from the St. Nicholas Hotel here in Springfield, IL offers a plethora of choices including: Rollette of Mutton with Spanish Olives, Lamb Tongue, and Union Cake.
Vintage Christmas Greetings: This 19th century Christmas and New Year’s card was given out by Frank Simmons a prominent bookseller here in Springfield, IL at the time.
Letters Home: Hiram Roberts to his young daughter Nellie
Hiram P Roberts, Chaplain, HQ, 84th Illinois Infantry, sent this letter on Christmas Day in 1863 to his five year old daughter, Nellie.
Papa’s Log Cabin
Whiteside Tenn
Christmas Day
Darling Nellie
Your little letter came to me the other day & I was glad to get it. Tell Emma I thank her for writing it for you. I suppose you are having a good time to day. Did Kris Kringle bring you anything last night? I don’t believe he comes down this way at all for I haven’t heard anything about him. I haven’t anything to send you for a Christmas present so I will put in 25 cents & you may get what you want or what mama thinks is best.
Be a good girl & mind mamma & I shall love you all the better.
A Merry Christmas to you from
Papa
©2011 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
