Newspapers from the early 1900s were often filled with holiday advertising, stories, poems, and artwork. Enjoy this week’s sampling of amusing and frequently poignant vignettes from Thanksgivings past.
The Daily Democrat (Natchez), November 20, 1910, section 2, page 1. MDAH microfilm #21360.
The Free Press (Poplarville), November 21, 1907, page 2. MDAH microfilm #30982.
"The Hoo Hoo Club." Call Number: PI/1991.0020 (MDAH Collection)
This photograph was donated to MDAH in 1970. It was dubbed “The Black Cats Social Club” for lack of further information, until 1991 when it was published in the Mississippi History Newsletter (Vol. XXXIII, No. 10) with a public appeal for any information about it.
From the response to the newsletter, we learned that it pictured members of the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, a social club of lumbermen, founded in 1892. The founders, who dreamed up the club while waiting for a delayed train, wanted to create an organization for the lumber industry that was different than other clubs of the day. They settled on the name “Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo” because of its originality: “concatenate” meant “to unite” and the word “hoo-hoo,” which was coined by one of the founders, had come to denote anything out of the ordinary. The group quickly adopted the black cat as its mascot (the number nine gained special significance because cats supposedly have nine lives) and borrowed Egyptian history and the work of Lewis Carroll to frame its terminology. In the MDAH photograph above, nine men are pictured wearing robes with the cat logo, while a tenth holds a figure of a cat.
The club is now called the International Order of Hoo-Hoo and counts over 100,000 members, with clubs located worldwide.
Sources:
“A History of Hoo-Hoo International,” International Order of Hoo-Hoo, http://www.hoo-hoo.org/pdf/HHI-History.pdf (accessed October 6, 2011).
“The Hoo-Hoo Club Photograph, PI/1991.0020,” control folder, Image and Sound Section files, MDAH.
This postcard is also from the Cooper Postcard Collection.
Other Valentine’s Day posts from around the blogosphere:
Looking for a last minute Valentine’s Day card idea? Your search could end with this postcard from the Cooper Postcard Collection!
Also, check out this Archives of American Art blog post, entitled “Valentine’s, Shmalentine’s”–they showcase Valentine’s related collections, including some great Valentine’s/Buy War Bonds art.
Jackson Infirmary, 1930. Call Number: PI/STR/1982.0015, Item 10 (MDAH Collection)
The Jackson Infirmary, which you can see at left in this photograph, was established in 1916 on East Fortification Street. It moved to this location on the 100 block of North President Street in 1918. The Dominican Sisters took over the institution in 1946, later changing the name to St. Dominic Hospital, and moving to its present location in the 1950s.
Source: St. Dominic Hospital 0-1949, Subject File, MDAH.
Subject files usually contain newspaper clippings and miscellaneous papers, programs, and notes (what we call “ephemera”) on people, places, and events from Mississippi history. There are about 28,000 of them at MDAH! Searchable through the “Subject File” quick search option on the catalog home page.
Holiday Closing:
All offices will be closed for New Years’ from Friday, December 31, 2010 through Monday, January 3, 2011.
