The Origins of Santa Claus

This section looks specifically at how the legend of St Nicholas developed into the modern American Sata Claus, and is presently under construction. Most relevant links have already been given in the previous two sections. Perhas the most important link is The Origin of American Christmas Myth and Custom by B.K. Swartz Jr.. This is a very nice, schematic version of the evolution of St Nicholas with extremely good coverage of the development of Santa Claus, including dates for the first appearance of various features.