Interesting Santa bits from other authors

I found the following at Fun Stuff and Pickle Soup:

The modern image of Santa Claus was created by Coca-Cola(Haddon Sundblom drew his first Santa portrait for Coca-Cola in 1931... which popularized an existing image of Claus.

In 1804, the New York Historical Society was founded with Nicholas as its patron saint, reviving the Dutch tradition of St. Nicholas as a bringer of gifts. In 1809, Washington Irving published his satirical A History of New York, by one "Diedrich Knickerbocker," poking fun at New York's Dutch past, St. Nicholas included... in Dutch, "Sinterklaas". Irving revised his History of New York in 1812, adding details about Nicholas' "riding over the tops of the trees, in that selfsame waggon wherein he brings his yearly presents to children."

In 1821,William Gilley wrote a poem about a "Santeclaus" who dressed all in fur and drove a sleigh pulled by one reindeer. On Christmas Eve of 1822, Clement Clarke Moore, wrote down and read to his children a series of verses; his poem was published a year later as "An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" ...more commonly known today by its opening line, "'Twas the night before Christmas . . .")