Santa Claus and Salvation Army musicians entertaining children on NYC street
Santa Claus and Salvation Army musicians entertaining children on N.Y.C. street Library of Congress

It was a time when William McKinley was finishing up his tenure as President of the United States and Theodore Roosevelt was starting his. It was a time when our families were stepping off the boats to start their life anew in a foreign city. A time before The Great War gripped the nation at its core.

These are rare photographs from the early 1900s depicting captured moments of Christmas in New York City; pictures of a long forgotten era.