The papers consist primarily of records documenting the planning of Christmas events. The materials fall into four groups: committee planning, memoranda, graphic art, and memorabilia.

Committee planning materials document the early stages of festival preparation. They include business letters, guest lists, invitation lists, duty lists, rough drafts of event programs, decoration directions, suggested music lyrics, and material lists. Most materials are original, although some are photocopies. This group also includes handwritten notes to and from faculty members and planning reminders. Correspondents include college president James R. Thaxton; Leonora Ivey, head of Physical Education; Ruth Parker Jenkins, Dean of Women; Dr. Tayloe Harding; Joan Bailey; Thera Hambrick; and Susan E. Thomas.

Memoranda include circulated reminders for faculty and participants. These materials consist of flyers, typed mimeographed program copies, and participant directions, documenting the final stages of festival planning.

Graphic materials range from black-and-white magazine illustrations to watercolor paintings by M. Small and W. Parrish. They include costume designs for Lady Bountiful, reindeer, ice skaters, marching-band members, Foolish Funnies, Certayne Dancers, the Morris Men, Lords of Misrule, pages, court fools, Knights of the Hobby Horse, St. George and the Dragon, a peasant girl, Swiss mountaineers, Greeks, a Gay Nineties girl, a shepherd, clowns, and minuet dancers. The collection also includes magazine clippings that inspired the costume designs, from sources such as McCall’s Pattern Catalog, This Week, The Ladies’ Home Journal, The Detroit Free Press, The Atlanta Journal, The New York Times, and School Arts Magazine. Images of 1920s and 1930s popular-culture figures, including Dorothy Gish and Maurice Chevalier, reflect entertainment influences of the period. Some costume plans include fabric swatches and material-cost information.

Memorabilia documents the results of festival planning and includes original Christmas programs, Christmas cards, and excerpts from early college publications. Notable correspondence includes a letter from author Ebele Eko to a staff member. The publications describe college customs such as the Hat Picnic, May Day, Thursday Night Supper, After Dinner Coffee, Big Sister–Little Sister Week, campus songs, Thanksgiving Dinner, Valentine’s Day, and Easter. Related newspaper articles about college festivities are also included.

For images of the Old English Christmas Festival, see the Old English Christmas Festival Flickr album.

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