1,079
Followers
2,437
Following
98
Posts
N/A
Reels
N/A
Highlights
12/0
Photos/Videos in last 12
Bio
My photos + public‐domain images. ❧ New York centrist who researches linguistics, old speculative and action fiction. 🇺🇸✡🏳️🌈🐻 (CC BY–SA 4.0)
Links
www.minds.com/elyaqim1
Avg likes
-
Avg comments
0.11%
Engagement
0.2/wk
Posting
Recent posts
Jack o’ Lantern, 1912–1937.
Jack o’ Lantern has been scaring us, but also delighting us, for generations.
Images (all in the public domain)
• Combined with Theodore Roosevelt, “(Teddy the Pumpkin,)” cover design by J. C. Leyendecker, The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 185, no. 17, 26 Oct. 1912.
• Pumpkin children with Jack o’lantern and his crew, illustration by M. T. Ross for Mother Earth’s Children, 2nd ed., by Elizabeth Gordon, 1914.
• “The witch dropped in two straws from her broom,” frontispiece and illustration by F. M. Pettee for “Tell‐Tale & Tattle‐Too,” The Box of Smiles (and Other Stories), by Laura Rountree Smith, 1920.
• “Hallow⁓e’en,” cover design by Norman Rockwell for The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 193, no. 17, 23 Oct. 1920.
• “(Party Pumpkin,)” cover design by Pearl L. Hill for The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 197, no. 18, 1 Nov. 1924.
• Title‐page illustration by Eleanore Mineah Hubbard for Hallowe’en Tales, by Ethel Owen, 1928.
• “(Witch Carving Pumpkin,)” cover design by Frederic Stanley for The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 201, no. 17, 27 Oct. 1928.
• Illustration by the author for Jeremy Mouse and His Friends, by Clara Atwood Fitts, 1937.
0 likes · 0 comments · 30 Oct 2026
Noah, 1915 and 1928.
The Bible says little about daily life on Noah’s Ark during the Deluge, so post‐Biblical sources need to be consulted.
• Headpiece by A. B. Walker for Ol’ Man Adam an’ His Chillun …, ch. 4, “Steamboat Days,” by Roark Bradford, 1928. (In the public domain.)
• “It’s a good thing for me I wasn’t stepped on while stopping the fight,” illustration by A. J. Frueh for The Log of the Ark, by I. L. Gordon, 1915. (In the public domain.)
1 likes · 0 comments · 15 Oct 2026
The White Fireman, 1928.
4–10 October 2026 is Fire Prevention Week.
“The White Fireman symbolizes the Fire‐Prevention Service maintained by insurance companies.” He is depicted like a vigilant spectral guardian of varying size, sometimes hundreds of feet tall, looming over buildings and people and working tirelessly to keep them safe from the dangers of fire, mostly by preventing fires from starting in the first place. He first appears in an advertisement for the Insurance Company of North America published in The Saturday Evening Post in the week of 7 January 1928, followed by different monthly ads for at least a decade thereafter.
• “The White Fireman and his Work,” advertisement designed by L. Meynard Mayer for Insurance Co. of North America, The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 200, no. 28, 7 Jan. 1928.
• “A White Fireman minimized this hazard,” advertisement designed by L’Meynard Mayer for Insurance Co. of North America, The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 200, no. 32, 4 Feb. 1928.
• “The White Fireman—an alert guardian against ‘exposure’ fires,” advertisement designed by L’Meynard Mayer for Insurance Co. of North America, The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 200, no. 40, 31 Mar. 1928.
• “The White Fireman reduced their premium 20%,” advertisement designed by L. Meynard Mayer for Insurance Co. of North America, The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 200, no. 44, 28 Apr. 1928.
• “The White Fireman’s advice had gone unheeded,” advertisement designed by L’Meynard Mayer for Insurance Co. of North America, The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 200, no. 48, 26 May 1928.
• “The White Fireman is a guardian of lives,” advertisement designed by L’Meynard Mayer for Insurance Co. of North America, The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 200, no. 52, 23 June 1928.
• “Philadelphia Wins Grand Prize for Fire Prevention Work,” advertisement designed by L. Meynard Mayer for Insurance Co. of North America, The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 201, no. 3, 21 July 1928.
• “The White Fireman made outside aid possible,” advertisement designed by L’Meynard Mayer for Insurance Co. of North America, The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 201, no. 7, 18 Aug. 1928.
0 likes · 0 comments · 08 Oct 2026
Masculine personification of Autumn, 16ᵗʰ and 17ᵗʰ Centuries etc.
The masculine personification of the season of Autumn has appeared in a number of works of art and illustration over the centuries. (The 1603 book Iconologia actually has a feminine personification of Autumn, but has a masculine personification specifically of the Autumnal Equinox.)
The images
• “Autumnus,” by Maerten van Heemſkerck, engraving by Philips Galle, ca. 1563. (In the public domain.)
• Autumn, by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1573. (In the public domain.)
• Illustration after Giuſeppe Ceſari for “Equinotio dell’ Autunno,” Iconologia[,] ouero Deſcrittione di diuerſe Imagini cauate dall’antichità, & di propria inuentione …, by Ceſare Ripa Perugino, 1603. (In the public domain.)
• “Autumn,” illustration by [William B.] Gihon for “Autumn,” by R. H. Stoddard, Sartain’s Magazine, vol. 7, no. 4, Oct. 1850. (In the public domain.)
1 likes · 0 comments · 06 Oct 2026
The Story of Esther, 1909.
The holiday of Purim is connected to the story in the Book of Esther, which is retold in “The Story of Esther,” by Charles H. Sylvester, published in Journeys Through Bookland, 1909. The principal figures are the heroine Esther, her cousin Mordecai, the villain Haman and King Ahasuerus.
Images
☞ “Esther and King Ahasuerus,” frontispiece by Beatrice Braidwood for “The Story of Esther,” by Charles H. Sylvester, Journeys Through Bookland, vol. 2, 1909. (In the public domain.)
☞ “Mordecai Cried with a Loud and Bitter Cry,” illustration by Beatrice Braidwood for “The Story of Esther,” by Charles H. Sylvester, Journeys Through Bookland, vol. 2, 1909. (In the public domain.)
☞ “Esther Fell Down at the King’s Feet,” illustration by Beatrice Braidwood for “The Story of Esther,” by Charles H. Sylvester, Journeys Through Bookland, vol. 2, 1909. (In the public domain.)
☞ “Haman Was Afraid,” illustration by Beatrice Braidwood for “The Story of Esther,” by Charles H. Sylvester, Journeys Through Bookland, vol. 2, 1909. (In the public domain.)
3 likes · 0 comments · 03 Mar 2026
Santa Claus as a Size‐shifter—pt. 3, Tallness.
Along with his powers to apparently make himself very small and very slender, multiple public‐domain sources depict Santa Claus as being extremely large, even gargantuan, sometimes being miles high and sometimes evidently being about as large as the planet itself, suggesting he has the ability to grow to those sizes.
In December 1913, Santa Claus is so large that he can easily step over foothills of the Swiss Alps to bring chocolate bars to eager recipients (“When Santa Claus brings Peter’s …”).
On 13 December 1913, The San Francisco Call and Post shows Santa Claus as existing shortly after the dawn of man, when humanity has not expanded much beyond the Garden of Eden. He is many miles tall and is busy putting various natural features of the “primal uncompleted lands” in place, including giving the Alps to (the as‐yet unpopulated) Italy. Existing mountain ranges barely reach his ankles, Mount Shasta and the Yosemite Valley sit in his pack awaiting his final positioning of them, and he holds a big tree in his hand as if it were a flower (“Santa Claus’ Visit”).
In December 1917, Santa Claus is depicted as being so tremendous that he stands astride North America, with one foot in Mexico and the other in Canada (“Santa Claus to All the World”).
In December 1906, Santa Claus appears to possibly be about as large as the World itself (“Santa Comes but Once a Year”).
Images
☞ “Conscience,” cover design by George Carlson, Life, vol. 62, no. 1626, 25 Dec. 1913. (In the public domain.)
☞ “When Santa Claus brings Peter’s …,” advertisement for Peter’s Milk Chocolate, St. Nicholas, vol. 41, no. 2, Dec. 1913. (Also published in Life, vol. 62, no. 1623, 4 Dec. 1913.) (In the public domain.)
☞ Illustration by Fred L. Packer for “Santa Claus’ Visit,” by Arthur L. Price, The San Francisco Call and Post, vol. 115 (94), no. 12 (143), 13 Dec. 1913. (In the public domain.)
☞ “Santa Claus to All the World,” cover design by Edwin King, The Gackle Republican, vol. 12, no. 17, 14 Dec. 1917. (In the public domain.)
☞ “Santa Comes but Once a Year,” cartoon by E. B. Bird, St. Nicholas, vol. 34, no. 2, Dec. 1906. (In the public domain.)
4 likes · 0 comments · 23 Dec 2025
—
Santa Claus as a Size‐shifter—pt. 2, Slenderness.
On at least two occasions—once in 1912 and once in 1924—Santa Claus has demonstrated the power to make himself startlingly slender, a physical attribute that helps him to descend chimneys so as to deliver gifts, although in 1912, it results in his inadvertently frightening a child.
Images
☞ “The Night Before Christmas,” cartoon by Louis Glackens, Puck, vol. 72, no. 1866, 4 Dec. 1912. (In the public domain.)
☞ “If skepticism increases among four‐year‐old children, it may be necessary to redesign Santa Claus along more plausible chimney‐climbing lines,” cartoon by Don Herold, Life, vol. 84, no. 2198, 18 Dec. 1924. (In the public domain.)
1 likes · 0 comments · 21 Dec 2025
The great majority of public‐domain sources depict Santa Claus as a man of normal height, but a significant subset instead depict him as being very short. Though this is presumably nothing more than contradictions in the source material, his connection to magic and miracles suggests the possibility that he may be able to alter his height, especially as it would be beneficial to someone who routinely slides down chimneys.
In 1863, likely referring to his small stature, he jokes that “I was a cruisin’ round all last night—didn’t sleep a wink—got so broke up there’s nothing left of me but pieces!”
In 1897, Santa Claus states outright that he indeed has different heights at different times, but curiously, he states that he is shorter at home with his wife than when he is out delivering gifts.
⌜No doubt you think me six feet, four,
And that I weigh a ton or more,
But when at home I’m rather small,
Not near so large nor half so tall
As when I visit girls and boys
And load them down with pretty toys.⌟
A 1909 postcard appears to show Santa Claus as being so small that he can walk along a holly leaf.
On a number of occasions in 1921 and 1922, Santa Claus is so small that he can hide inside a phonograph player (though he acknowledges it is a “tight squeeze”).
Bibliography in progress
(See the corresponding post on other platforms.)
Images
☞ Santa Claus, or St. Nicholas, painting by Robert Walter Weir, 1837. (In the public domain.)
☞ Illustration for “Prudy’s Christmas,” by Sophie May (pseud. of Rebecca Sophia Clarke), The Little Pilgrim, vol. 11, no. 1, published 1863 with a cover date of Jan. 1864. (In the public domain.)
☞ “The funny old gentleman,” illustration for Sister Susy, ch. 3, “Susy’s Christmas,” 1863. (In the public domain.)
☞ “Little Bo‐Peep Fell Fast Asleep, and Dreamt—,” cartoon by Thomas Nast, Harper’s Young People, vol. 1, no. 8, 23 Dec. 1879. (In the public domain.)
☞ Illustration (apparently signed E. Gaucher) for Santa Claus, Kriss Kringle or St. Nicholas, 1897. (In the public domain.)
☞ “Greetings from Santa Claus,” postcard design by Cobb Shinn, 1909. (In the public domain.)
0 likes · 0 comments · 20 Dec 2025
Santa Claus and chimneys, 1812, 1862, 1902 and 1918.
Santa Claus is well known nowadays for coming down chimneys to place gifts in children’s homes, something first documented in print in a book from 1813 or 1814. Just a year or two earlier, however, in 1812, he is first recorded as using chimneys for this purpose—but he drops the gifts down without accompanying them along the way.
The 1812 edition of A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty states that “the good St. Nicholas would often make his appearance … of a holyday afternoon, riding jollily among the tree tops, or over the roofs of the houſes, now and then drawing forth magnificent preſents from his breeches pockets, and dropping them down the chimnies of his favourites.”
Even after he has begun going down the chimneys himself, he does still sometimes just drop gifts down, as he does around 1862, and in 1902 and 1918.
Bibliography in progress
• A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, 2ⁿᵈ ed., vol. 1, by Diedrich Knickerbocker (pseudonym of Washington Irving), 1812. (In the public domain.)
• False Stories Corrected, 1814 (but presumably also in the original 1813 printing). (In the public domain.)
• “A Christmas Mistake,” by Edwin L. Sabin, St. Nicholas, vol. 30, no. 2, Dec. 1902. (In the public domain.)
• Early American Children’s Books, by A. S. W. Rosenbach, 1933. (In the public domain.)
Images
☞ Santa Claus, painting by William Holbrook Beard, ca. 1862. (In the public domain.)
☞ Illustration by Otto W. Beck for “A Christmas Mistake,” by Edwin L. Sabin, St. Nicholas, vol. 30, no. 2, Dec. 1902. (In the public domain.)
☞ Detail of “The Saint and the Sinner,” cartoon by Calvert Smith, Judge, vol. 75, no. 1938, 7 Dec. 1918. (In the public domain.)
0 likes · 0 comments · 15 Dec 2025
Saint Nicholas, these days also called Santa Claus, is well known for his annual tradition of bringing gifts to children every December—originally only on St. Nicholas Eve and St. Nicholas Day, not on Christmas. He has begun to do so by 1553, when he hides “Apples, Nuttes, and peares … and other things beſide, / As caps, and ſhooes, and petticotes” in people’s homes while the children “at night in ſenseleſſe ſléepe are caſt,” as documented in the 1553 book The Popiſh Kingdome, from the Holy Roman Empire (here quoted from a 1570 translation).
The 1593 book Feſta Chriſtianorum (here quoted from an 1813 translation) describes how the gifts received each year by children are “owed them to the kindness of St. Nicholas and his train, who, going up and down among the towns and villages, came in at the windows, though they were shut, and distributed them.”
The book goes on to connect this spirit of generosity to a specific act of charity to three dowerless maidens at a time when Nicholas is still a young man living in Asia Minor (an act first recorded in considerable detail in the 9ᵗʰ century in The Life of Saint Nicholas).
According to Feſta Chriſtianorum,
⌜This custom … originated from the legendary account of that Saint’s having given portions to three daughters of a poor citizen, whose necessities had driven him to an intention of prostituting them, and this he effected by throwing a purse filled with money, privately, at night, in at the father’s bed‐chamber window, to enable him to portion them out honestly.⌝
In 1780, the second edition of The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints also synopsizes this act of charity by Saint Nicholas.
(Full text of the post on other platforms.)
☞ Detail of The Story of Saint Nicholas, painting by Fra Angelico, ca. 1437. (In the public domain.)
☞ Illustration for “Die Geschichte von den ſchwarzen Buben,” Luſtige Geſchichten und drollige Bilder …, by Heinrich Hoffmann, 1845. (In the pulic domain.)
☞ Illustration by Jill Elgin for ch. 2, “About Saint Nicholas,” Gay Legends of the Saints, by Frances Margaret Fox, 1942. (In the public domain.)
1 likes · 0 comments · 11 Dec 2025
Old Gentleman Gay, 1898 and 1917.
Old Gentleman Gay wishes all a happy Thanksgiving.
☞ Illustration by Maud S. Fuller or Michael Petersham for “A Good Thanksgiving,” by Marian Douglas, A Child’s Own Book of Verse, bk. 2, 1917. (In the public domain.)
Said Old Gentleman Gay, “On a Thanksgiving‐day,
If you want a good time, then give something away;”
So he sent a fat turkey to Shoemaker Price.
And the Shoemaker said, “What a big bird! how nice!
And, since such a good dinner’s before me, I ought
To give poor Widow Lee the small chicken I bought.”
“This fine chicken, O see!” said the pleased Widow Lee;
“And the kindness that sent it, how precious to me!
I would like to make some one as happy as I—
I’ll give Washwoman Biddy my big pumpkin‐pie.”
“And O, sure!” Biddy said, “’t is the queen of all pies!
Just to look at its yellow face gladdens my eyes!
Now it’s my turn, I think; and a sweet ginger‐cake
For the motherless Finigan children I’ll bake.”
“A sweet‐cake, all our own! ’T is too good to be true!”
Said the Finigan children—Rose, Denny, and Hugh;
“It smells sweet of spice, and we’ll carry a slice
To poor little lame Jake—who has nothing that’s nice.”
“O, I thank you, and thank you!” said little lame Jake;
“O what bootiful, bootiful, bootiful cake!
And O, such a big slice! I will save all the crumbs,
And will give ’em to each little Sparrow that comes!”
And the sparrows, they twittered, as if they would say,
Like Old Gentleman Gay, “On a Thanksgiving‐day,
If you want a good time, then give something away!”
📕 Old Gentleman Gay makes at least two appearances in public‐domain texts.
• “A Good Thanksgiving,” by Marian Douglas, 1898 or earlier. (I could not locate the original printing online.)
• Old Gentleman Gay, in The Elf of Discontent and Other Plays, by Rita Benton, 1927. (A dramatic adaptation of the poem.)
2 likes · 0 comments · 27 Nov 2025
Brownies at Thanksgiving, 1914, 1927 etc.
Not referring to a holiday dessert, but rather to that other kind of brownie, a number of sources in the public domain show that brownies observe the holiday of Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving brownie himself appears in at least two texts, and others tell of what brownies do at Thanksgiving.
Bibliography in progress
• Thanksgiving in Brownie‐Land (play), by Effie Louise Koogle, 1905.
• “The Brownies’ Thanksgiving Turkey,” A Year with the Fairies, by Anna M. Scott, 1914.
• “Polly’s Thanksgiving Party,” by Ella Shannon Bowles, American Cookery, vol. 26, no. 4, Nov. 1921.
• “The Thanksgiving Brownie,” The Pumpkin People, by Ethel Owen, 1927.
Attached illustrations
☞ Illustration by M. T. Ross for “The Brownies’ Thanksgiving Turkey,” A Year with the Fairies, by Anna M. Scott, 1914. (In the public domain.)
☞ Headpiece by Constance Enslow for “The Thanksgiving Brownie,” The Pumpkin People, by Ethel Owen, 1927. (In the public domain.)
☞ “She heard a laugh,” illustration by Constance Enslow for “The Thanksgiving Brownie,” The Pumpkin People, by Ethel Owen, 1927. (In the public domain.)
☞ “I am the Thanksgiving Brownie,” illustration by Constance Enslow for “The Thanksgiving Brownie,” The Pumpkin People, by Ethel Owen, 1927. (In the public domain.)
1 likes · 0 comments · 26 Nov 2025
Follower tracking
We have been recording @elyaqim since 13 Oct 2026 — 101 observations.
1,079
-1
(<0.1%)
since 13 Oct 2026, from 1,080
8 Nov 2026
Download @elyaqim's data
Everything below is derived from this account, priced on the counts shown. Delivered as CSV by emailed link.
You only pay for rows we deliver. Counts are the maximum available today; if an export comes back smaller, the difference is refunded automatically. Counts as last collected 1 day, 16 hours ago.
Tracking
What we have recorded about @elyaqim over time, and ongoing alerts.
Other reports
Not downloads of this account: they take their own inputs.
Similar accounts
Accounts we track that share hashtags, mentions or bio topics with @elyaqim.
