Widener Collection of Proclamations Reveals The Puritanical Origin of Thanksgiving Day

For over 150 years, from the first Thanksgiving day in Plymouth, 1621, till after the Revolution, the American Thanksgiving was a serious business to which turkey was only incidental, it appears from rare colonial Thanksgiving proclamations in the collection of Widener Library.

Sports were forbidden and the "blue" laws were strictly enforced. The day was devoted to church activities and sober conversation about the good fortune of the colonists. During the holiday dinner, 'was the custom in many households for the father to read sermons aloud.

proclamations.

Thanksgiving at first came on no set date, but was proclaimed by the governor when it appeared suitable. Although the favorite month for the holiday was November, it was often set in February and July.

The earliest proclamation in the collection is of March 9, 1743, and issued by Governor William Shirley, of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, announcing a "Publick Fast" to be held Thursday, April 12, 1748.

Another rare item in the collection is a proclamation issued by President George Washington, January 1, 1795, setting February 18, 1795 as a national Thanksgiving day. Thanksgiving first became a national holiday as it is known today, in 1863, when Lincoln proclaimed a day following the battle of Gettysburg. Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, in 1865 established Thanksgiving for the first time as a national harvest festival.