Podcast Summary

Podcast: Stuff You Missed in History Class
Episode: SYMHC Classics: Washington Irving
Hosts: Tracy V. Wilson & Holly Frey
Release Date: December 13, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode delves into the life and wide-reaching influence of Washington Irving, an American writer most famous for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow but whose work shaped American Christmas celebrations far more than most realize. Holly and Tracy explore Irving’s biography, his complex attitudes on race, his literary innovations, his satirical contributions, and, in detail, his foundational influence on Christmas traditions—both in the U.S. and the U.K.—including his impact on Charles Dickens.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Washington Irving: Early Life and Inspiration

• Birth and Background
  • Born April 3, 1783, in NYC—the year the Revolutionary War ended.
  • Youngest of 11 children to immigrant parents from England and Scotland.
  • Named after George Washington; attended Washington’s inauguration.
    • “He was growing up as the United States was establishing itself as an independent nation.” (Holly, 03:47)
• Childhood in Tarrytown
  • Sent to Tarrytown (near Sleepy Hollow) during a yellow fever outbreak; the area’s folklore later inspired his most famous works.

2. Early Career: Law, Satire, and Salmagundi

• Law Apprenticeship and Literary Beginnings
  • Briefly apprenticed in law, more of a dreamer per family accounts; went to Europe for health reasons.
  • Launched Salmagundi, a satirical periodical lampooning New York life.
    • “This periodical has been described as the Mad Magazine of its day...” (Tracy, 06:10)
  • Coined the term “Gotham” for NYC.
  • Engaged to Matilda Hoffman, who died in 1809. Her death deeply affected Irving and his writings.

3. A History of New York and Knickerbocker Legacy

• A History of New York (1809):
  • Pseudonym: Diedrich Knickerbocker; led to “Knickerbocker” becoming slang for New Yorkers and later the NBA’s Knicks.
  • PR Hoax: Notices about the fictitious historian created buzz before release.
  • The style was comedic, satirical, but heavily drew on real Dutch community traditions and names.
    • “Knickerbockers are also baggy trousers that usually stop just below the knee…[which] traces back to Irving’s work as well.” (Holly, 07:38)

4. Personal Loss and Career Stresses

• Loss of income from family business bankruptcy after the War of 1812.
• Encouraged by Sir Walter Scott to pursue professional writing.

5. Breakthrough: The Sketchbook and Short Stories

• The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
  • Published in England and U.S. (1819–1823).
  • Included Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow—both set in Dutch New York, rooted in German folklore and attributed to Knickerbocker.
  • Five essays describing Christmas in England, which later shaped American Christmas.

TREATMENT OF RACE & INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

• Mixed, complex, often “whiplash inducing.”
  • Example: “Irving’s criticisms of Europeans’ treatment of indigenous people in North America…are very pointed and perceptive…But then threaded through that are racist language and stereotypes.” (Tracy, 15:06)
• Essays such as “Traits of Indian Character” and “Philip of Pokanoket” seen as more nuanced for the time, but still affected by contemporary prejudices.

TREATMENT OF AFRICAN AMERICANS

• Documented Black folklore and holidays (e.g., Pinkster), but with stereotyped or fetishizing undertones.

6. Life in Europe and Historical Works

• Commissioned to research Spain’s colonial archives; led to a romanticized biography of Columbus (which originated the myth that Columbus set out to prove the Earth was round).
• Diplomatic appointments in London and Spain; deeply stressed by politics of the time.

7. Later Years and Final Works

• Traveled American West with Henry Levitt Ellsworth, documenting indigenous life during Indian Removal (Trail of Tears era).
• Authored histories and biographies, notably a five-volume Life of George Washington.
• Published what’s considered the first sympathetic North American bio of Muhammad.

The Christmas Connection

Pre-Irving Christmas in America

• Christmas largely uncelebrated in early America—often outlawed or sternly repressed, especially by Puritans.
  • “Christmas really wasn’t established as a holiday…The Puritans in New England outlawed Christmas in 1659…” (Tracy, 25:10)
• Dutch traditions (Sinterklaas) preserved in the Hudson Valley.

Irving’s Pivotal Influence

• Injecting Sinterklaas into American Imagination
  • History of New York (particularly 1812 edition) vividly describes St. Nicholas delivering gifts in a flying wagon, smoking a pipe, touching his nose—direct inspirations for the Santa Claus mythos and even “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (’Twas the Night Before Christmas”).
    • “Irving mentions St. Nicholas more than 40 times in his history of New York…” (Tracy, 26:20)
• Five Christmas Essays in The Sketchbook
  • Titles: Christmas, The Stagecoach, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, The Christmas Dinner.
  • Narratives detailed English communal merriment: yule logs, mistletoe, caroling, boar’s head feasts, wassail, and even ghost stories—establishing a vision of Christmas centered on hospitality, joy, and tradition.
  • “There is a tone of solemn and sacred feeling that blends with our conviviality and lifts the spirit to a state of hallowed and elevated enjoyment.” (Irving, quoted by Tracy, 29:46)
  • “He who can turn churlishly away from contemplating the felicity of his fellow beings…may have moments of strong excitement and selfish gratification, but he wants the genial and social sympathies which constitute the charm of a Merry Christmas.” (Irving, quoted by Holly, 29:46)

Notable Descriptions from Irving’s Essays

• Decorations, games, and customs:
  • “The old games of Hoodman, Blind Shoe, the Wild Mare, Hot Cockles, Steal the White Loaf, Bob Apple, and Snapdragon…the Yule clog and Christmas Candle were regularly burnt, and the mistletoe…hung up to the imminent peril of all the pretty housemaids.” (Holly, 30:52)
• Dinner rituals and ghost stories:
  • “After dinner, the family gathers for the telling of Christmas ghost stories and a ‘Christmas mummery or masking.’” (Tracy, 33:08)

Legacy: Dickens and Christmas as We Know It

• Dickens, a self-confessed “Irving superfan,” modeled his own Sketches by Boz and Christmas scenes in Pickwick Papers and A Christmas Carol after Irving’s work.
  • “Charles Dickens was kind of a Washington Irving superfan. The Sketchbook was published when he was about 8 and he read it over and over.” (Holly, 34:23)
  • Dickens’s effusive letter to Irving: “I rush at once into full confidence with you and fall, as it were, naturally and by the very laws of gravity into your open arms...” (Dickens, quoted by Tracy, 34:46)
• The Victorian Christmas, and by extension the public American Christmas, owes much to Irving’s blend of nostalgia, celebration, and communal spirit.

The Rise of Christmas as a Public Holiday

• Christmas became increasingly celebrated and commercialized through the 19th century, ultimately becoming a U.S. federal holiday in 1870.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Irving’s writing about Christmas is important and deeply influential to the way the holiday is celebrated in the United States. Probably more than most people are aware.” (Holly, 00:59)
• “This periodical has been described as the mad magazine of its day…” (Tracy, 06:10)
• On losing his fiancé Matilda:
  • “She died in the flower of her youth and of mine, but she has lived for me ever since. In all womankind, I see her in their eyes…” (Irving, journal, quoted by Holly, 08:30)
• On “A Visit from St. Nicholas”:
  • “That poem was first published in 1823…there is a competing claim that Major Henry Livingston Jr. is the person who wrote this poem and that that happened all the way back in 1808.” (Tracy, 27:24)
• Dickens to Irving:
  • “I have been so accustomed to associate you with my pleasantest and happiest thoughts and with my leisure hours that I rush at once into full confidence with you and fall…into your open arms.” (Dickens letter, read by Tracy, 34:46)

Key Timestamps for Major Segments

• 02:22 — Christmas influences in history and Irving’s connection
• 03:47 — Irving’s early years and influences
• 06:10 — Salmagundi and the birth of “Gotham”
• 07:38 — “Knickerbocker” legacy
• 12:49 — The Sketchbook, Irving’s short stories, and race
• 19:16 — The Columbus biography myth
• 25:10 — Christmas not being established in early America
• 26:20 — Sinterklaas, St. Nicholas, and Irving’s Santa Claus influence
• 28:25 — Overview of the five Christmas essays
• 34:23 — Dickens’s admiration for—and influence by—Irving
• 36:22 — Christmas becomes a U.S. public holiday

Tone and Language

• The episode is engaging and conversational, interwoven with scholarly detail, gentle humor, and a clear warmth for the subject.
• Holly and Tracy maintain a respectful tone when addressing the complexities and contradictions in Irving’s views on race and cultural heritage.

Conclusion

This episode reveals Washington Irving as a foundational figure in American literature and culture—not just through horror tales, but as the unwitting architect of the contemporary American Christmas. Listeners come away with a nuanced understanding of Irving’s legacy, the tangled lineage of the holiday’s traditions, and the literary bridge he created between England and America—most notably, his influence on Charles Dickens. The episode balances biographical storytelling, literary analysis, and cultural history with the signature Stuff You Missed In History Class warmth and depth.