Yuletide Traditions
By Brooke Baerman, WPAMC Class of 2019
Dedicated readers of the Material Matters blog may have caught glimpses of Winterthur’s previous Yuletide displays. Each year, rooms of the house are transformed into wintery scenes and holiday spectacles. This year, guides are giving tours on the theme of “tradition,” discussing both national pastimes and the ways the du Pont family celebrated Christmas at Winterthur. Amongst the beautiful trees and meaningful stories are two local examples of holiday material culture: Rolly Dolly Santas and cellophane wrapping paper.
In this year’s Yuletide display, the Baltimore Room showcases the Santa and Belsnickel figures from a private collection. Displaying the figures, like these Rolly Dolly Santas, and giving them as gifts, was a popular tradition throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
On loan from a generous private collector, figures depicting Santa and the Germanic Belsnickel adorn the furniture in the Baltimore Room on the fifth floor. The mantle is covered in cheery, rounded Santa figures that represent a Philadelphia tradition.
Known as “Roly Poly” or “Rolly Dolly” figures, the Santas were made by the Schoenhut Piano Factory, a company that produced toy pianos before expanding to making a wide range of dolls. Third-generation German wood carver Albert Schoenhut opened his Philadelphia factory in 1872, and by 1908, his company was creating the Santas on the mantle. Advertised as being practically indestructible, the figures are weighted on the bottom so when children knock them down, they repeatedly stand back up. While production of Roly Poly Santas ceased in the 1930s, the tradition of these wobbling toys continues today in similar children’s amusements.
This tree is decorated as the du Ponts decorated their tree, with electric lights and mid-century ornaments. Beneath the tree, each family member had their own basket of gifts, wrapped in cellophane – a du Pont company product.
Even closer to Winterthur, a Delaware tradition sits beneath the du Pont family’s Christmas tree. While their tree was originally displayed in the conservatory, where Winterthur’s iconic dried flower tree now stands, this tree is on the fourth floor. Baskets of gifts are scattered around it. Inside those baskets are traditions many of us have today: wrapped presents.
This booklet, titled “How to Glorify Christmas Gifts,” illustrates the many ways of wrapping packages with cellophane.
As we look closely at the wrapping paper, we find it is not paper at all. Instead, it is cellophane, a du Pont product. In greens, reds, and holiday prints, packages are covered in the shiny material. This was an intended use for cellophane, and the du Pont company even produced a booklet with instructions on how to best decorate packages with the material.
The Rolly Dolly Santas and the cellophane gift-wrap are just two of the many different traditions we see in this year’s Yuletide, and they exemplify a wide range of seasonal celebrations. With innovations from the United States and abroad, new ideas became old pastimes. As I guided during this year’s Yuletide, visitors were excited by the traditions they saw, and were eager to share their own. Yuletide at Winterthur helps us learn about historic holiday practices, but it also makes us turn inward to reflect on our family histories and the new traditions we create by celebrating each year.
What are some of the traditions your family observes?
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