LYNCHBURG, Va. – A Liberty University history professor is giving a lesson, not on topics like war or democracy, but on Santa Claus.
Dr. Carey Roberts is appearing in a new documentary titled “The True Saint Nicholas.”
It’s about how the man with the long white beard and the red suit has changed with America’s cultural shifts.
Roberts said the jolly old man we know him as today was created in the 1920s and 30s when Coca-Cola hired a Swedish artist for a national campaign.
“He drew on this New York image of Santa Claus and really produced the modern Santa Claus we have today, so it’s a Southern beverage company, it’s a Swedish immigrant and it’s a New York tradition,” said Roberts.
He said before that time, most Americas would’ve been visited by “Father Christmas” or “Saint Nicholas.”