Perhaps you've seen A Christmas Story and remember Ralphie, a young boy in the 1940s, who asks for a BB gun for Christmas but is told by his parents, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid."
Within a collection of Robertson family papers is a letter to Santa written by a boy named Jackie, presumably Ralphie’s age, requesting Santa to bring him a Bird bicycle and an air rifle. And just so Santa would know what kind of rifle Jackie wanted, he enclosed a picture of a Red Ryder BB gun. The letter also includes a heartwarming drawing of Santa’s head in profile at the top of the page. If only we knew if Jackie received his coveted Red Ryder BB gun!
See examples of other letters to Santa in the VMHC Collections below.