Songbook: Christmas Carols, Home Federal Savings & Loan, Christmas Club Corp., Singing Girl with Candle, Des Moines Iowa, Vintage 1952

In Des Moines, Iowa, a Mies van der Rohe building once housed a savings and loan that handed out carol books every Christmas, like this 1952–1953 edition with a girl holding a candle.

• Music & Lyrics: Various traditional carols
• Publisher: Christmas Club a Corporation, New York
• Promotional Sponsor: Home Federal Savings & Loan Association, Des Moines, IA (1929–1990)
• Era: Vintage, 1952–1953
• Variants: 1952 · 1953
• Format: Softcover, 10 songs
• Dimensions: Approx. 4" x 6"
• Condition: Very good — new old stock; cover wear on some copies; no tears, folded pages, writing, or stains; light tanning; colors remain vibrant. Please review photos closely before purchasing, as all sales are final.

Published by Christmas Club a Corporation of New York, this cover features a sweet illustration of a girl holding a candle. It is available in two years, 1952 and 1953, each new old stock with 10 carols and vibrant colors throughout.

A lovely stocking stuffer for the ephemera collector, the banking history buff, or anyone who appreciates a piece of mid-century Americana with a great backstory.

Home Federal Savings and Loan Association, founded in 1929, is remembered today for its 1962 building, one of the finest examples of mid-century modern architecture in Des Moines and one of the first steel-and-glass Miesian structures in the city's downtown. The bank gave these little songbooks to customers opening Christmas Savings Club accounts. The Christmas Club idea dates to 1909, when Merkel Landis, treasurer of the Carlisle Trust Company in Pennsylvania, opened the first Christmas savings fund for about 350 local savers. Christmas Club a Corporation of New York, which published these carol booklets, was the company behind the system banks used to run their own clubs, and by 1927 some 8,000 banks were distributing more than $500 million to over 8.6 million club members.

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