By HAI Staff
The Beginning (of a Holiday Classic… Sort Of)
If you’ve ever flipped through the Rankin/Bass holiday specials and thought, “Wow, these plots were kind of wild,” you’re not wrong. Imagine this:
At the start of a cosmic war, two godly brothers begin to clash. One throws heat beams, the other throws snowballs. Two elves get caught in the middle and fall to earth, being saved by a reindeer before they all hit the ground. Only one person can get the brothers to stop bickering for long enough to help save Christmas: their mother, Mother Nature.
It sounds like a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. But this chaotic battle is actually from the 1974 Christmas TV special, “The Year Without a Santa Claus”: a stop-motion classic now celebrating half a century of charming audiences, holiday after holiday.
And for archivists, that nostalgia hits differently. Because these little puppets and props aren’t just cute—they’re fragile historical objects that survived decades of light, heat, mishandling, and degradation over time.
Image Courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine
Preserving Christmas Magic (One Puppet at a Time)
Stop-motion animation is one of the few film techniques where the stars—the clay models or puppets—physically exist. Someone built them. Lit them. Moved them millimeters at a time. Preserved their tiny sweaters and freeze-frame expressions.
But what happens to these iconic characters when the cameras stop rolling?
Unfortunately, they are not free to pursue other opportunities like their human counterparts. They are also not as robust, unable to adapt to changing weather conditions, like putting on a sweater when it is cold. So how do they maintain their appearance for years or even decades after their appearances on silver and big screens? The human caretakers responsible for the care and health of these objects do!
Here’s how:
Image Courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes
For clay and claymation models 1 2
- Sealing them with resin or varnish to add a protective layer.
- Storing objects in controlled climate environments.
- Using padded supports, clean storage materials, and cloth gloves.
For plastics and synthetic figurines 3 4
- Keeping them cool, dry, dark, and well-ventilated.
- Separating plastics by type to avoid cross-contamination.
- Handling them with nitrile gloves to prevent degradation.
- Monitoring regularly for signs of deterioration.
These objects age, but they don’t have to crumble. With careful consideration (and a little holiday spirit), archivists ensure these tiny stars have long careers ahead of them.
Why It Matters
For many families, these specials were their first shared holiday traditions. The Heat Miser and Snow Miser songs. The Elf on a mission. Santa’s existential crisis. Preserving stop-motion media isn’t just artifact care—it’s memory care.
Archivists keep Christmas nostalgia alive. They make sure future generations can experience these classics in all their handcrafted glory.
And that, arguably, is the greatest gift of all.
Are you interested in learning more about preserving different items for an archive? Visit our Archival Services & Digitization page.
Preserve and Activate Your Heritage
Organizations across sectors — from universities and museums to corporations, nonprofits, and government agencies — rely on strong heritage practices to protect the stories, collections, and records that shape identity and inspire future generations.
HAI's Heritage Services include:
- Archival Services & Collections Processing
- Digitization & Digital Preservation
- Records & Information Management
- Historical Research & Storytelling
- Exhibits, Interpretation & Digital Experiences
- ArchivalOne and PastView Partnership
- HeritageAdvantage CoLab
We help institutions safeguard their past so they can lead with clarity, credibility, and purpose. Let's preserve and activate your organization's heritage together.
Notes:
1 “Museum Conservation Services.” National Park Service.
2 “Museum Conservation Services.” National Park Service.
3 “Care and Identification of Objects Made from Plastic.” National Park Service, September 2010.
4 “Care and Identification of Objects Made from Plastic.” National Park Service, September 2010.