Where did Santa Claus come from?

One historian claims that "In the mid 19th century American illustrator, political cartoonist and Morristown resident Thomas Nast (1840-1902) was responsible for creating the Victorian image of Santa Claus that we still use today."

Who is this man, Thomas Nast? He was an editorial cartoonist for during the latter half of the 19th century, working principally for Harper's Weekly. 

His work was noted for its biting satire and no hold's barred attacks on political corruption. He was especially hard on the Tammany Hall  in New York, its leader, Boss Tweed.

Nast is also credited with devising the symbol for today's Republican Party, in a cartoon he published during the Congressional Elections of 1874. 

But what concerns us during this holiday season are his drawings which seems to have given us our modern image of Santa Claus. He did illustrations for Professor Clement Clark Moore's poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas (or The Night Before Christmas) Moore wrote the poem in the early nineteenth century, intending it to be a story for his children. It was published in 1823, and it is this poem, accompanied by Thomas Nast’s iconic illustrations, that created the modern Santa. Though Nast’s St. Nick wore a onesy with a hood — not a red suit with a cap.

Who's naughty and who's nice? Nast can show us that, too, in 1871.

Nast continued to depict Santa Claus over the years. Perhaps the best known was done in Harper's Weekly in 1873.

Or Another in 1874.

Updated in 1876.

Or yet another in 1879.

There was for a long time the story that the word nasty derived from Nast's name and his cartoon style. Research shows, however, that the word existed long before Nast was working. It did make an interesting coincidence when people looked at his work.