Spirit of the Yuletide
Using AI to recreate a 1909 Atlanta Christmas party
A little over a week ago now, my husband and I held a holiday housewarming party in our new home. It was a lot of work, not only making sure the house was put together, but also decorating for the season, planning the menu, and handling RSVPs. I took a lot of inspiration from the holiday parties my aunts hosted when I was younger and reached out to them for recipes and suggestions. Not everything went according to plan, lessons were learned, but overall the party felt very magical. Not only were we celebrating our new home with the community we’ve formed in Amherst, we were also sharing the spirit of the season with our guests.
A few days after our party, I was down a newspapers.com rabbit hole (my favorite kind of rabbit hole), and I came across a number of articles about Christmas parties thrown by Mr. and Mrs. John E. Murphy, who I know to be residents of Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta.
“No affair of the holiday season is more filled with the spirit of the Yuletide than the Christmas party at which Mr. and Mrs. John Murphy entertain each season.” -The Atlanta Journal, Sunday, December 26, 1909.
I found articles highlighting the details of the Christmas festivities they held every year between 1906 and 1910. I also found an article about their Peachtree Street home, built in 1905, that included pictures of some of the rooms (unfortunately, the pictures are rather grainy). The Atlanta History Center also has a picture of the exterior of the home in their collection (today, Colony Square in Midtown sits where the house once stood). Armed with this information, I decided to take another venture into the world of AI to see if I could recreate scenes from the Murphy’s 1909 Christmas party.
The Exterior
I began by giving DALL-E information about the season (Christmas) the year (1909), the house’s location (Peachtree Stree), and some recognizable features in the Atlanta History Center image (Greek Revival, Corinthian columns, two story porch, rounded verandas, stone foundation, beige brick walls). One of the first images I received based on these prompts had a nice rendering of what might be a 1909 mansion, but in the background, I think because I’d mentioned Peachtree Street, there’s a building that looks eerily similar to Colony Square:
I refined the picture of the exterior based on the details given in the article about the event:
“The long walk from the street to the house was lit with great red and green globes and on the broad front porch the guests were welcomed by Santa Claus, his sleigh drawn by a handsome steed on one side of the entrance.” -The Atlanta Journal, Sunday, December 26, 1909:
The drawing room and the hostess
“Mr. and Mrs. Murphy received the guests in the drawing room where the rose colored hangings were in delightful harmony with the pink gown worn by the hostess, a beautiful toilet in cashemir de soie, the corsage elaborately embroidered and trimmed with crystal. Her dark hair dressed high was bound with a dull gold fillet.” -The Atlanta Journal, Sunday, December 26, 1909
The dining room
“In the dining room the table had as a central decoration a miniature sleigh driven by a fur-coated Santa, and pulled by reindeers powdered with snow. The most realistic snow formed a broad ribbon about the round table which was bordered with low glass dishes filled with pink and white carnation, alternating with tiny little Christmas trees.”-The Atlanta Journal, Sunday, December 26, 1909
Eggnog in the breakfast room
“Eggnog was served in the breakfast room, where the buffet was screened with autumn-tinted vines, the chandelier also twined with the gold and crimson vines through which shone the great bunches of grapes lit with electricity.” -The Atlanta Journal, Sunday, December 26, 1909
Were these real grapes or grape shaped lights? AI chose real grapes:
Supper in the ball room
“Supper was served in the ball room, where tables seating four and six were arranged throughout the beautiful apartment. Each table had in the center a miniature Christmas tree and candlesticks tipped with crimson shades…The beautiful room with its white walls broken by mirrors reaching from the ceiling to the floor was garlanded with vines set with hundreds of gorgeous poinsettias…” -The Atlanta Journal, Sunday, December 26, 1909
Dancing in the ballroom
“The little alcove where the musicians were seated was framed with the vines and poinsettias…After supper the tables were removed and informal dancing followed.” -The Atlanta Journal, Sunday, December 26, 1909
If you look closely at the picture of the musicians, you’ll notice the pianist is pulling double duty as a violinist.
Beautiful toilets
One thing I’ve found humorous reading through descriptions of these old parties is that the journalists often use the word toilet to describe women’s apparel. For example, “the pink gown worn by the hostess, a beautiful toilet in cashemir de soie.”
Here were a few other guest looks from the Murphy party I tried to recreate:
“Mrs. John Grant was particularly lovely, wearing a gown of turquoise blue cashemir de soie, the corsage embroidered and trimmed with lace.”
“Mrs. Preston Arkwright wore a gown of rose-colored cashemir de soie, the corsage embroidered in Japanese silk and gold threads.”
“Mrs. John Kiser was lovely in a gown of black satin, the only touch of color being given by a poinsettia.” -The Atlanta Journal, Sunday, December 26, 1909
The Murphy’s Eternal Home
Mr. and Mrs. John Murphy have been residents of Oakland Cemetery since 1924 and 1938 respectively. They’re interred in the Murphy mausoleum. Every year in December, the Historic Oakland Foundation holds a weekend holiday event where some of the mausoleums are decorated. The Murphy mausoleum was highlighted in 2017, and I’m very grateful to one of my fellow Oakland Cemetery volunteers for sharing this picture with me:
Ah, yes! Newspaper.com rabbit holes are ones I know (and love) well! If I'm working to deadline, I set a kitchen timer for 20 minutes. When it dings, I often find myself quite far afield from my research topic.
I love how you used AI to recreate the Murphy's party! How dreamy. Does anyone host a party where there's dancing anymore? Just think how much thought went into the attendee's outfits as well. I'm ready to rsvp...
Nice, what did they do to have all that money?