The elaborate Christmas plays staged by the 鲍迪奇 family, who referred to themselves as "the Management" in their playbills, 都是精心制作的吗. Each Christmas, the 鲍迪奇 family began their celebrations by sending out printed invitations. 然后剧本就写好了, 分配的字符, 服装和布景, 海报也印出来了. The 鲍迪奇 family Christmas traditions became more elaborate and important with each passing year, 用欢乐来庆祝这一天, 精神, 热情, 还有伟大的创造力. The family tradition began with the introduction of a Christmas tree from a European relation, 但很快演变成一场精心策划的庆祝活动.

A 1926 letter from a family member (in the Wigglesworth Family Papers at the Historical Society) attests to the importance of the family Christmas traditions:

In the woods we all of us have seen and enjoyed a very old pine tree around whose base seedlings have grown up. It seems to us that this is just what is happening about our very old 鲍迪奇 Christmas tree. 许多幼苗已经生长起来，并且正在生长.

...这是一个漫长的哭泣, 太, to the incoming of the Christmas tree brought to us by the coming of Aunt Olivia from England when Uncle Henry brought her home as his bride. We have been told that ours was the first Christmas tree hereabouts....

...I've learned to know our Uncles and Aunts through their playing with us and joining in the frolics. 一切都很简单. An unbroken record of ninety annual meetings for one family circle we think cannot be duplicated and its influence has been and still is of real importance to us all....

...We older ones see how full the day is with your immediate family celebrations plus the 鲍迪奇 Tree, 所以我们想成为为未来提供计划的人. Why not recognize in all our individual family Christmas trees that each is a seedling from the old tree and around these trees carry on the customs and influences that have meant so much to us, all these years that we have joined together in our 鲍迪奇 celebrations?

鲍迪奇家庭圣诞系列

This playbill is part of the 鲍迪奇 Family Christmas Collection, 于1996年捐赠予该协会, 包括节目单, 项目, 歌曲, 诗, 丝带, 以及1843年到1936年的手稿. There also is a typescript reminiscence of Christmas in 1857, a pamphlet on the fiftieth anniversary of the 鲍迪奇 Family Christmas tree in 1886, and a 1936 script from the centennial anniversary of the first celebration in 1836. This collection of memorabilia captures a century of Christmas celebrations by members of the 鲍迪奇, Dixwell, and Wigglesworth families and their many close friends and relations. Among family members featured in their theatrical debuts are Charles P. 鲍迪奇，理查德·鲍迪奇·威格尔斯沃斯，亨利一世. 鲍迪奇和J. Ingersoll鲍迪奇.

The Historical Society also holds 鲍迪奇 Christmas materials in the Wigglesworth Family Papers including 诗, 圣诞节的日程安排, 1936, 圣诞剧剧本, and letters between family members trying to determine the best future for the 鲍迪奇 family Christmas tradition, 有一次，这个家庭太大了，无法一起庆祝.

业余戏剧

The eleven playbills in the 鲍迪奇 Family Christmas Collection form part of the Society's collection of over 200 amateur theatrical playbills. The majority of the playbills date from the nineteenth century when amateur theater became a popular pastime for affluent Bostonians. Private theatricals were also used for charitable or fundraising purposes. 除了, the Society holds hundreds of playbills and 项目 from professional theater companies operating in Boston and elsewhere that are being added to the MHS online catalog, 阿比盖尔. Playbills for both amateur and professional performances offer a glimpse into the fascinating theatrical scene in nineteenth-century Boston where theater bloomed late, as public theatrical performances were banned until after the American Revolution.

这张节目单比大多数节目单都华丽, as the 鲍迪奇 family whimsically printed their program inside a real program from the Boston Bijou Theatre, 1883年，这座城市最大的剧院. The cast of the 1883 Christmas production features members of the Wheeler, 鲍迪奇, Dixwell, 豪, 和米勒家族. The notes at the end of the playbill indicate the 精神 of the occasion: "William requests that the good-looking members of the audience wear mistletoe." One can only imagine the fun that was had on that Christmas evening in 1883 as the curtains were drawn and the 鲍迪奇es, 和他们所有的朋友和家人, 笑了一整晚.