Huntington Christmas Party collection

The events surrounding the annual Huntington Christmas party are documented in this collection in the form of printed quarterlies, scrapbooks and photo albums, administrative/planning files and notebooks, posters, and ephemera. The collection is organized in the following series: Quarterlies, Notebooks, Planning Files, Scrapbooks, Posters, and Novelty Box.

The collection includes at least one copy of every Christmas Party Quarterly from 1936 to 1970, featuring art, poetry, riddles, and other holiday-related contents. The content of the Quarterlies was often self-referential to the Huntington staff and researchers who attended the parties, usually including many inside-jokes. The cover of each Quarterly differed from year to year, showcasing a wide array of artistic talent. Occasionally the Quarterlies would include photographs.

There are twenty-six scrapbooks and photo albums ranging from 1934 to 1970 (not continuously). The scrapbooks contain photographs of the staff from events which occurred throughout the year, as well as photos of the Christmas Party itself. Some of the earlier scrapbooks are comprised mostly of magazine cut-outs with witty captions. Photographs begin appearing in the scrapbooks in the early 1940's and are often labeled. For example, the gold-covered scrapbook from 1949 includes photographs from the snow which fell in San Marino that year.

The planning and administrative files contain documentation related to the planning of both the party itself and the creation of the Quarterly, though not consistently for every year. Some of the planning documentation was stored in "Christmas Party Notebooks," while other documentation ended up collected in folders, and further some of the documentation ended up filed inside the quarterlies themselves.

The Christmas planning documentation includes receipts for items purchased for the party as well as for the printing of the Quarterly, lists of attendees of the parties, lists of recipients of the Quarterly, lists of various committee members of numerous committees (there was a main Christmas Party Committee which delegated work to other committees, for things like drinks, music, decorations, tables, Christmas tree, etc.), expense accountings, programs for the party itself, play/skit scripts, alcoholic punch recipes, draft versions of submissions to the Quarterly, committee notes, photographs, cards and letters sent by or received by members of the staff, and other similar materials.

The collection also includes a series of posters and other ephemera. The posters include those from the actual parties, announcements for the parties or for Quarterly submissions, and other items (for example, a poster for a "Baby Picture Guessing Contest").

A small, undated novelty box with six slots containing a variety of food-stuffs is also part of the collection. This box is housed separately due to the nature of its contents.