📬Holiday letters: The festive social media of the 20th century

On December 25, 1948, Marie Bussard of Shedd, Oregon penned her first annual summary to those on her Christmas card list, an idea she admitted borrowing from family friends. This oldest surviving holiday letter is [part of a collection at Harvard’s Schlesinger Library](. Anthropologists and historians are now turning to the Yuletide diary-style missives we love to hate as a window into life in the 20th and 21st centuries. “You can mine these letters for so many different things,” says Ann Burnett, professor and director of the Women and Gender Studies program at North Dakota State University. Annual holiday letters reflect how people view the passage of time, [our obsession with “busy-ness,”]( gender roles, and historic events among other things. But with social media doing the job of keeping friends and family in the loop, the family holiday letter as we know it may soon become a thing of the past. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Sponsored by [Quartz Obsession] Holiday letters December 21, 2018 From our home to yours! --------------------------------------------------------------- On December 25, 1948, Marie Bussard of Shedd, Oregon penned her first annual summary to those on her Christmas card list, an idea she admitted borrowing from family friends. This oldest surviving holiday letter is [part of a collection at Harvard’s Schlesinger Library](. Anthropologists and historians are now turning to the Yuletide diary-style missives we love to hate as a window into life in the 20th and 21st centuries. “You can mine these letters for so many different things,” says Ann Burnett, professor and director of the Women and Gender Studies program at North Dakota State University. Annual holiday letters reflect how people view the passage of time, [our obsession with “busy-ness,”]( gender roles, and historic events among other things. But with social media doing the job of keeping friends and family in the loop, the family holiday letter as we know it may soon become a thing of the past. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Giphy By the digits [1843:]( The first commercial Christmas card goes on sale in London [5%:]( Share of 1,200 holiday letters analyzed by North Dakota State University researchers deemed “authentic” [83%:]( Share of the sample deemed unauthentic [47%]( Respondents to an Emily Post Institute survey who can’t stand annual Christmas letters [15 billion:]( Pieces of mail anticipated by the United States Postal Service this holiday season [6:]( Countries represented among the more than 2,000 holiday letters in Dr. Ann Burnett’s personal collection [142:]( Number of pages in the longest Christmas newsletter ever [10:]( Number of pieces of personal mail the average American household receives each year Origin story Hello world --------------------------------------------------------------- Unfortunately, not much is known about the origins of the mass-mailed holiday letter, but it became more widespread with the advent of the retail copy machine [in 1959]( when making large numbers of letters became as easy as pushing a button. By 1968, they were prevalent enough for [Ann Landers to get a letter venting about them](. “People who write these letters feel like the end of the year and the holiday season is the time to take a step back and think about the year as a whole and reflect on it,” says communications professor Ann Burnett. Annual holiday letters are also great for updating and keeping in touch with friends and family. The letters are also a glimpse into history. Those dated post-9/11 talk about the aftermath of the attack and tend to be more patriotic in tone. Tales of tough times and unemployment were a hallmark of letters dating after the Great Recession of 2008. Letters from 2016 detailed that year’s presidential elections and the writer’s thoughts and feelings about the results. [One particularly memorable letter]( was written from the point of view of the family pet, deceased and stuffed and sitting in the family den. Letters housed at the Schlesinger Library in Massachusetts give embarrassing details about a newly teenaged son, ask about changes to the cookie recipe on the Quaker box, and include cheeky rhymes. Sponsored by Citrix Today’s workforce has a productivity problem. --------------------------------------------------------------- Technology promised to make us more productive, but it is actually making it harder for us to get work done. Listen to an organizational behavior professor and an Executive VP of business strategy discuss this modern productivity predicament—and how we can fix it.[Hear about the productivity paradox.]( Courtesy of Herb Lubalin Study Center Look at this! MCMerry Christmas! --------------------------------------------------------------- Holiday letters became common as modern design was in its heyday, and some of the 20th century’s greatest designers produced striking cards for personal and professional communications. AIGA’s Eye on Design [collects examples]( from Lester Beall, Paul Rand, Saul Steinberg, and others. From the archive[Holiday letter from the collection of Dr. Ann Burnett](Courtesy of Dr. Ann Burnett) In a sample from Ann Burnett’s collection, a writer bullet points the year. Last Christmas (letter) --------------------------------------------------------------- The holiday letter hit its heyday in the early ‘00s and have been on a steady decline since about 2011, according to North Dakota State University’s Ann Burnett. “Nobody under age 40 writes them anymore,” [she told the Star Tribune]( last month. Ironically, one of the reasons people give for abandoning the holiday letter is that they’re too busy—busyness being the thing letter writers bragged most about. Some of the blame, of course, can be placed on social media. “But where does that leave historians a hundred years from now who are interested in the lives of everyday Americans of today?” asks retired archivist Susan B. Strange, who recently donated her personal Christmas letter collection to the Schlesinger Library. Maybe it’ll be fine. The [demise of the Christmas card was predicted back in the late 1970s](. Last year, the United States Postal Service [prepared for a 10% increase in holiday mail](. This year, USPS expects to exceed that by [an additional 1 billion pieces of mail](. “As long as trees exist, letters will be typed,” says Richard West, communications professor at Emerson College, who specializes in family interaction. “The Christmas letter is going nowhere except to a local post office near you.” Have a friend who would enjoy our Obsession with Holiday letters? [ [Forward link to a friend](mailto:?subject=Thought you'd enjoy.&body=Read this Quartz Obsession email – to the email – Quotable “‘OUR HOUSE TO YOURS!’ is the standard beginning. Centered at the top of an 8 x 11” sheet of paper, it spared the writer the nuisance of penning salutations on the hundred or more copies he will doubtless send out. The exclamation mark is the first of dozens that will be used. No Christmas letter averages fewer than eighteen ‘!’s,’ ‘!!’s,’ or ‘(!)’s’ a page.” —[William L. Copithorne writing for The Atlantic Monthly in 1954]( Giphy Pop quiz What popular television show poked fun at the annual Christmas letter tradition in a 2001 holiday episode? FrasierFriendsEverybody Loves RaymondWill & Grace Correct. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Manifest destiny LIfe is peaceful there, in the open air --------------------------------------------------------------- Why did the holiday letter originate just after World War II? Besides the copy machine hitting the scene, one theory is that with the populating of the Sunbelt, [westward migration]( meant a lot more people needed to use mail to stay in touch. DIY Holiday letter pro tips --------------------------------------------------------------- Some folks love sending (and receiving) holiday letters. Here are some tips to ensure yours makes spirits bright. - Keep it short and sweet. Hallmark writer/artist/editor [Angela Ensminger recommends no more than 10 sentences]( but says more than one page is too much. - Don’t overdo the exclamation points! [In an op-ed for The Atlantic Monthly]( a writer laments the overuse of this punctuation mark. Save them for punchlines and surprises. - Nix the bragging. “It’s okay to share your success, but do it in a way that is upbeat but humble,” [an American Stationery blog post warns](. “Be matter-of-fact.” - Beware of TMI. This is not the time to detail your recent health problems or divulge your kid’s journey through puberty. If you wouldn’t share it with someone in person, it doesn’t belong in your letter. - Make it fun. Season your letter with jokes and memories, spice it up with recipes and one or two photos. Add some personality. [Keep it interesting for your readers](. Fun fact! During the 1980s, the focus of the letters shifted to the “busyness” of the writer’s lifestyle, with words and phrases like “action-packed,” “hectic,” “crazy,” and “on the run” appearing with greater frequency. In the ‘90s, [letter writers began dedicating a paragraph for each family member]( detailing their achievements throughout the year. Giphy Watch this! O, Come Let Us Adore… Us --------------------------------------------------------------- Sandy and Richard Riccardi pin the braggy Christmas letter to the wall. take me down this 🐰 hole! [The Christmas Letter Swap]( is a website where you can sign up to send a holiday letter (real or completely fabricated) to five strangers and get five in return. You can also read [past Christmas Letter Swap entries](. By then, you’ll be ready to take on this [holiday letter decoding quiz]( from the Chicago Tribune. Giphy Poll How do you feel about holiday letters? [Click here to vote]( Bah humbug!They’re better than social media, honestlyPenning my annual missive right now! 💬let's talk! In yesterday’s poll about [MSG]( 61% of you say you’ll happily put it next to the salt. 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20holiday%20letters&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) 🎲 [Show me a random Obsession]( Today’s email was written by [Tiffany R. Jansen]( edited by [Whet Moser]( and produced by [Luiz Romero.]( The correct answer to the quiz is Everybody Loves Raymond. Enjoying the Quartz Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! If you click a link to an e-commerce site and make a purchase, we may receive a small cut of the revenue, which helps support our ambitious journalism. See [here]( for more information. Not enjoying it? No worries. [Click here]( to unsubscribe. Quartz | 675 Avenue of the Americas, 4th Fl | New York, NY 10011 | United States [Share this email](