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Holiday Windows
An Annual Tradition
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Nothing evokes Christmas cheer like the annual unveiling of the
celebrated department stores’ holiday window displays. Manhattan
department stores such as Macy’s, Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdales,
and Chicago’s Marshall Field's, have been well-known
for their impressive holiday window spectacles for generations.
During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the wide
availability of large sheets of plate glass for oversized
windows led to the concept of using department store window displays
to attractively display the store's merchandise. It quickly followed that elaborate holiday window displays
before Christmas, combining merchandise and fantasy holiday
scenes, attracted a multitude of customers. Store merchants began to
lure shoppers to their stores with ornate and whimsical
Christmas window tableaus as a
way to sell their inventory at the end of the year.
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| In the photo above, a lavish holiday window display features Santa and his nearly
life-size, fur-covered reindeer surrounded by dolls, toys,
stuffed animals and drums. The sleigh is draped and overflowing
with toys.
[Detail of image: Library of Congress,
LC-DIG-ggbain-04433]
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In the 1870s, R. H.
Macy’s was the first to develop the notion of the “holiday
window display” by attractively displaying their holiday
merchandise in their New York City department store’s windows.
Families would bundle up and gather, noses pressed against the
glass, to gaze in awe at the fairytale holiday scenes. In
addition, R. H. Macy’s is credited with bringing the first
in-store Santa Claus for all the children to see. Now more than
100 years later, department stores in cities like New York, Dallas and Chicago continue the annual tradition of elaborate
and highly-crafted holiday window displays as a magical treat
for the young and old alike.
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In the photo above, a group of warmly dressed children wistfully
gaze at the elaborate window display of Christmas dolls and
child-size furniture presented by R. H. Macy’s in 1915. Baby
dolls dressed in ruffles and lace are perched in a child’s
wicker rocking chair and wicker carriage, while other dolls
“fly” in front of a painted winter scene backdrop.
[Detail of image:
Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ggbain-20504] |
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Photo above: Mothers with their children see a colorful display
of toys, games, blocks and puzzles packed to overflowing in
front of the wintry backdrop in another of R. H. Macy’s windows
in 1915. If you look closely you will find many pictures of
circus and wild animals. Also there are two military games
titled “The European War” and “The Bombardment.”
[Detail of
image: Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ggbain-20488]
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Photo above: A
presentation of stuffed animals in widely varying sizes is shown
in another of R. H. Macy’s windows in 1915. An amazingly large
elephant is posed in the center and surrounded by other large
creatures: llama, sheep, camel, and buffalo – many on wheels.
Other smaller stuffed toys are scattered about and “fly” in
front of the snowy backdrop.
[Detail of image: Library of
Congress, LC-DIG-ggbain-20488]
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