Photograph shows Finck Cigar Company Christmas party. Ed Finck, president, is seated in center, right of Santa Claus. - Dec. 23, 1936 (Photos courtesy UTSA Libraries Special Collections)
SAN ANTONIO – The holidays are fast approaching and due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Christmas season will likely look different than what many families are used to.
Thanks to the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Special Collection of digital photographs, we can go way back into the past and see how San Antonians have celebrated the Christmas holiday as far back as 1877.
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There are a variety of photos that range from the interior of the San Fernando and St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedrals circa 1877 all the way up to a 1970s nativity from the Institute of Texan Cultures.
View the gallery of historical photos below:
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Christmas tree and miniature village in parlor of Heinrich Carl and Hulda Wetzel Seele, 433 E. Crockett Street, San Antonio, Texas. Photograph shows Christmas tree on table decorated with Heinrich "Harry" Seele's Christmas village. On far right hangs a crayon portrait of Harry's father, German immigrant Friedrich Hermann Seele. Circa 1900.
Photograph shows Finck Cigar Company Christmas party. Ed Finck, president, is seated in center, right of Santa Claus. - Dec. 23, 1936
Interior of San Fernando Cathedral, San Antonio, Texas, ca. 1877. Photograph shows Interior of San Fernando Cathedral. Above altar is arch with lettering: "GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO." Circa Christmas 1877.
Photograph shows Emmie Curry (left) and Ella Curry, daughters of Pauline Dahlgrun Curry, posed with Christmas gifts including dolls, books, and a toy piano. Taken in home of their grandfather George Dahlgrun where they lived at 801 Matagorda Street. Circa 1902.
Photograph shows Jana Ng, Christina Ng and Eugene Ng, in sleeping clothes, admiring a Christmas tree and packages under it in San Antonio circa 1960. On the wall behind them are Chinese paintings and Christmas cards arranged in the form of a Christmas tree.
Employees and contract workers responsible for creating and constructing Joske's "Fantasyland" Christmas display. Photograph shows Wendell Potter (far left), the department store's display director, with assistants. Circa 1960 at Joske's Department store in San Antonio.
Oscar Elizondo (far left) and employees working at the meat counter in La Gloria Food Market during Christmas season, 701 S. Laredo Street, San Antonio, Texas, December 1950
Meat counter in La Gloria Food Market during Christmas season, 701 S. Laredo Street, San Antonio, Texas, December 1950. Photograph shows butchers and other employees behind counter with various meats. Advertisement on wall reads ''Para su gran Tamalada.''
Photograph shows Willie ''El Curro'' Champion and wife, Teresa, with Teresa's mother, Dona Maria Martinez (far left), arranging a Nativity scene for display at the Institute of Texan Cultures in December 1972.
Photograph shows the interior of St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral on the north side of Travis Square (later 315 E. Pecan Street.) Columns decorated for Christmas circa 1877.
Nacimiento at UT Institute of Texan Cultures - Photograph shows the Mexican nativity scene on display in Introductory Area during 1972 holiday season.
Photograph shows Finck Cigar Company employees pose outside Finck Cigar Company, 602 Buena Vista St. on December 23, 1936 for the employee Christmas party.
Christmas tree and miniature village in parlor of Heinrich Carl and Hulda Wetzel Seele, 433 E. Crockett Street, San Antonio, Texas. Photograph shows Christmas tree on table decorated with Heinrich "Harry" Seele's Christmas village. On far right hangs a crayon portrait of Harry's father, German immigrant Friedrich Hermann Seele. Circa 1900.
All photos are courtesy of the UTSA Libraries Special Collections.
