View down a narrow aisle between storage shelves. Text overlay: From the Collections

A Holiday Reading

The NYS Library, in partnership with the NYS Museum, invites you to celebrate the magic of the season with a special holiday storytime and read-aloud of ’Twas the Night Before Christmas! This cherished holiday poem will come to life as you explore the fascinating history of the poem with a rare treat—a display of the original 201-year-old Troy Daily Sentinel featuring the first-ever printing of this iconic piece of literature, courtesy of the NYS Library’s Manuscripts and Special Collections.

This event will take place in the NYS Museum’s Adirondack Hall on Saturday, December 21, at 11 AM. After the reading, young visitors can channel their holiday spirit by writing letters to Santa at a festive letter-writing station. Don’t miss this enchanting event for all ages, blending storytelling, history, and holiday cheer! Please visit our events calendar for more information. 

A Historic Treasure

The Troy Daily Sentinel will be on display in the Cultural Education Center from Friday, December 20 through Friday, December 27, 2024. 

Front spread of the Troy Sentinel, December 23, 1823 edition, featuring the masthead.
Second Troy Sentinel newspaper spread showing the beginning of the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas.

"A Visit from St. Nicholas" (also known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas") was originally published in the Troy Sentinel, on December 23, 1823. It appeared without attribution and would do so for the next fourteen years as it made its swift and merry way around the world.

The poem underwent several edits between 1823 and 1844. Most of these involved relatively minor changes to punctuation, typography, and spelling (thro/through, sprung/sprang, peddler/pedlar, etc.). Some more telling alterations had to do with a couple of reindeer names, which changed from "Dunder and Blixem" (Dutch for thunder and lightning) to "Donder and Blixen," and eventually to the German "Donder and Blitzen." 

…and a Mystery!

The poem has often been credited to Clement Clarke Moore, a wealthy New York City professor. However, there is a growing belief that instead, it may have been written by Major Henry Livingston, Jr., a Dutch land surveyor from Poughkeepsie, NY.

In New-York Book of Poetry, in 1837, Charles Fenno Hoffman identified his friend Clement Moore as the author of this now widely circulated and beloved holiday poem. In 1844, Moore included it in an anthology of his own, referring to it as his long-ago "trifle"—a thing he hadn't cared to acknowledge before, but would happily do so now.

Henry Livingston died in 1828, just five years after the poem first appeared in the Troy newspaper. Livingston never claimed authorship. By the turn of the century, members of the Livingston clan had begun to publicly insist that he was the one who had actually written it, citing family lore and other potential evidence.