1939: Christmas shoppers in front of Frank M. Brown (hardware & paint store), 12-16 Free St.

1939: Christmas shoppers on Congress Street.

1937: Regular Portland post office clerks and carriers, numbering 100 and 75 respectively, augmented by 150 clerks and 220 carriers, handled more than 300,000 pieces of mail and all but a few thousand had been cleaned up by midnight on Dec. 20. A similar volume was expected on the 21st. In the photo clerks are 'casing,' or sorting, the mail.

1937: Cumberland County Power and Light building, 580 Congress St., at night with Christmas lights.

1939: Santa Claus with the kindergarten and pre-primary class at the Monument Street School.

Porteous Department Store at night, with Christmas lights in 1937.

1939: Brothers Harold and Virgil Butts of 177 1/2 St. John St. dressed as Canadian Mounties on Christmas day.

Christmas shoppers in front of Porteous, Mitchell, and Braun department store, 522-528 Congress St.

1939: A possibly unconvincing Santa Claus at the South Portland Boy's Club Christmas party in Ferry Village.

Trelawny Pharmacy at 659 Congress St. decorated for Christmas.

1939: Paul Beller Jr. and his sister Norma display their Christmas presents, a truck and a horn.

1937: Scene from the Nativity pageant presented by primary and grammar school pupils of St. Joseph's School at St. Josephs's Academy.

1939: Children and Santa.

1937: A staged photo taken during a photo shoot for the front page of the paper. The book is purportedly The Night Before Christmas.

1939: Couples Donnabeth Petersen and Robert Vail, Betty Stuart and Allen Knight, and Janet Lowe and Paul Jack at the Falmouth High pre-holiday dance.

1939: Barbara Conley of 91 Federal St. displays her new doll carriage on Christmas day.

1939: Christmas shoppers in front of the Porteous, Mitchell, and Braun department store on Congress Street.

1939: Buick employees Christmas party.

1939: Betty Frost and Jesse Trynor displaying a new wagon and tricycle on Christmas day.

1939: Freddie Ouellette was confined to his bed in the infirmary of the State School for Boys with a fractured leg. The belt and picture he holds are his own handiwork and are presents to be sent to his brother and mother.

1939: The South Portland Family Welfare Association held its Christmas party at the high school auditorium.

1939: The Portland Post Office lobby with patrons taking advantage of expedited Christmas mailing service (a bin) in this damaged photograph.

1937: Responsible for much of the cheery glow after dark these Christmas-shopping days is the Rines Brothers Company's big and friendly department store at Congress and Casco streets. The camerman in the above study has caught much, but not all of the lighting detail, from the brilliantly lighted street floor windows of "The Christmas Store" to the lighted Christmas trees and wreaths above. It looks, in short, very much like Christmas at The Christmas Store

1939: Patients at the Children's Hospital who will present a Christmas concert for the benefit of the Visiting Board, parents and former patients. Front row: Leonard Sirus, Simone Cote and Gerard Clevett. Back row: Lionel Roy, Rita Vermitt and Evelyn Guynn.

1939: Christmas shoppers carrying parcels on Congress Street. Almost no one in these photos is carrying a shopping bag.

1937: Northeast corner of Elm Street and Congress Street, at night with Christmas lights.

1939: Christmas shoppers crowd the sidewalks on Congress Street.

1937: First graders at the Leland School play music with songophones, a kind of kazoo. In the back are Yvonne Chaves, Jean Huston and Harry White. In front are Donald Haskell, Warren Noble, Jean Merrill, Jean Brown, Skofield Jonson and Winston Payne.

1939: Christmas shoppers on Congress Street.

1939: The sidewalk is filled with Christmas shoppers, in front of 536 Congress St.

1937: Santa Claus with group of children in a store.

Benoit & Company store at 270-278 Middle St. decorated for Christmas in 1937.

1939: The annual Christmas party at the Catherine Morrill Day Nursery.

1939: Christmas shoppers on Congress Street, in front of Porteous, Mitchell, and Braun .

1939: Santa Claus (Forrest E. Walker) and some of the 116 little guests at the Westbrook Lions Club Christmas party. Santa is holding twins Janice and Jeannette Hall.

1939: Christmas shoppers on Congress Street.