Midwest Genealogy Center

When my father-in-law passed away, we inherited boxes full of family history information. While digging through one of the boxes, we found a scrapbook full of newspaper clippings. The clippings were not labeled in any way and really were not in chronological order.

One newspaper clipping that caught our attention was a Christmas photo from the newspaper. We looked at the photo and accompanying article over and over in an attempt to figure out how someone in the photo was related to us. We kept thinking that one of the little children in the photo was a relative, but since there were no names, we just put the clipping back and forgot about it. Sometime later when my husband was talking about his parents and their experiences during the Great Depression, he recalled his father saying that at one point during the depression the only job that his father could get was as a department store Santa. We pulled out the newspaper clipping to look for more clues. The article contained no date, but did reference a newspaper.

We were able to locate a digital copy of the article through the Library’s database, Access Newspaper/ARCHIVE. The article was in the Salt Lake Tribune on December 25, 1933. Although we cannot prove who the Santa is, the time period and the location fit the story my husband recalled. We believe it is a photo of my husband’s grandfather, William Edward Clark, Sr.

Jolene C.
Midwest Genealogy Center