Santa Claus Town, 1916

Just in time for Christmas! This set of images is devoted to some of the goings-on of Santa and "Santa Claus Town" in 1916, as pictured by a combination of drawing and composite photography. The context of these is unfortunately unknown; they were deposited with the British Library to register their copyright, indicating commercial use, but what that use was I do not know. The images fortunately do come with captions--some of which only raise more questions. 

The British Library

"Santa Claus Town." Source

The British Library

"Santa Claus Palace." Source

The British Library

"The palace bears." Of course Santa keeps polar bears in his palace! Source

The British Library

"Reading the Christmas mail." Source

The British Library

"The Christmas tree." Source

The British Library

"Christmas Eve" Source

The British Library

The most mysterious of all-- simply "Mrs. Santa Claus farewell." No details on where she got a biplane or why might be flying it five feet above a crowd... Source