It’s that magical time of year again. The time when kitschy sweaters of all shapes and sizes emerge from dusty attics and forgotten boxes to show their sequined snowman, puff-paint glory at holiday parties across the globe. To get you in the spirit, we’ve rounded up some scintillating seasonal content from Digital Commons collections.
We’ll start as any good holiday blog post should: with mistletoe. Think you’ll stand under the mistletoe for a sweet little holiday smooch this season? You might want to think again. Turns out we may have been misled by mistletoe. According to this article, “Mistletoe: Meet Me Under the Parasite,” from Digital Commons at Utah State University, mistletoe may not be as romantic as it seems. Before roasting your chestnuts on an open fire this year, consider learning a thing or two (or five or ten) about the classic holiday treat sacrificing itself for your sustenance at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga’s “American Chestnut Oral History Project.”
Looking for a Victorian Christmas and New Year’s? Check out the Victorian Christmas and New Year’s Cards from the Turner Scrapbooks from Hollins University. This holiday postcard from Northwestern College Commons might finally shed some light on the controversial question: is Santa actually the postal carrier? The e-publications repository at Bond University takes on another slightly less controversial question, “To wrap or not to wrap?,” in this thrilling study. Although we don’t get any snow here at our offices in Berkeley, California, if we did we would certainly take to the slopes and take our sledding advice from the young scamp in this image from Digital Commons at the University of Maine, “Boy with Sled.”
From all of us here at bepress, we hope you have a happy holiday season!