Notes from the Archives: The 1966 Christmas Package Project
In 1966, Boston Mayor John Collins spearheaded an effort to send holiday packages to servicemen in Vietnam.
Though the Mayor's office initiated the Christmas package project, local neighborhood and civic organizations pitched in. The above clipping from the West Roxbury Transcript notes that the Lebanese Syrian Ladies Aid Society, the Kiwanis Club, the American Legion, and various veterans organizations joined together to send packages to servicemen from their neighborhoods.
Bostonians of all ages wrote to the Mayor’s Office to ask that their loved ones be sent a package. Georgetta Mables from Jamaica Plain sent the above letter asking for a package for her older brother.
A family from Dorchester asked for a package for their 19-year-old son. They wrote, “We are very grateful for any small token that lets him know that he and his buddies are not forgotten.”
Though many people requested packages for family members, other Bostonians wrote letters on behalf of their friends. The above letter asks for a package to be sent to a young man who did not have living parents. The letter writer wrote, “I doubt he will be receiving many Christmas gifts. I think he is most deserving.”
To learn more about Boston during the Vietnam War, you can contact the City Archives at archives@boston.gov.
