January Friday History: The Holidays at KA

By Matt Goff, KA Archivist

As the Holiday Season Subsides, We Take One More Look Back at Holiday Celebrations Through the Years at KA

Kraus-Anderson has been throwing holiday parties for at least 75 years, and based on a comparison of archival photos, the general trend has been toward elaborate acknowledgements of the season.

Comparing the pictures of a 1974 party to a couple 21st century examples illustrates the point. Even with so much photographic evidence, it can be challenging to effectively compare who had more holiday spirit when the level of holiday cheer isn’t necessarily limited by the quality of photographs.

The early history of the workplace holiday party is a bit too faded to read clearly. There are reliable accounts of workplace parties back into the mid 1800s. Charles Dickens is often credited with popularizing or even creating this phenomenon. His “A Christmas Carol” is credited with making Christmas what it is today in much of the English-speaking world. This story was especially impactful on the workplace, because it centers on the relationships among home, work, and holiday celebrations.

In the United States, the rise of the office holiday party is associated with post WWII, and the rise of corporate culture. This narrative aligns nicely with what is found in the Kraus-Anderson archives on the subject of holiday parties.

The earliest photograph of a KA holiday party is the one shown here from 1951, and the earliest record (yet discovered) comes from a party that was held one year earlier, in 1950, at the newly formed Saint Paul office. Financial records indicate that a catered holiday party occurred that year (with drinks served, of course), and 28 turkeys were distributed to the attendees. Sounds like a fun party!