Christmas letters spell out history

A year after it first asked residents to send in their Christmas letters, the Anoka County Historical Society has this to say: Keep those letters coming.

They can be a valuable source of county history.

"Christmas letters are good at taking the temperature of what we're doing," said Program Manager Vickie Wendel. "If you talk about your kids walking around with iPods or going to the high school hockey game, that is a picture of what our lives are like."

Last year's request went over well, said director Todd Mahon. The society received letters from more than 30 families, including some dating back five decades.

"Some things catch fire, and this certainly did," Mahon said. "It's got everyone's attention, especially now, when people are in the mode of sending them out."

Wendel estimated that the society now has a few hundred letters in its possession.

"One family saved their letters every year from the '60s, and it was a phenomenal picture of what they are like -- the good years, the bad years and everything in between," said Wendel.

As technology has made leaps and bounds in the last 50 years, so have Christmas letters in Anoka County. Older letters have no color or photos. Today, people strive to make their letters clever and may even turn their story into a game or quiz rather than a straight narrative, Wendel said.

Letters from the past rarely speak of technology or politics. Many from the 1950s and '60s speak about 4H activities. Soccer isn't even mentioned until the '80s.

The most significant historical trend the letters reflect was the growth in Anoka County from 1950 to 1970, Wendel said.

"Almost everyone from the '60s talks about new houses popping up or how their kids are moving to a new school that was built closer to them," she said. "We're talking a huge growth boom, and the letters reflect that when someone writes their sister just bought a new home in the neighborhood."

The letters are kept in the society's archives and may be used for research by the public. The historical society may even exhibit the letters at some point. Wendel notes the important niche they occupy.