Serious Thoughts on a Ridiculous Photograph

By Kelli Huggins, Education Coordinator

I think that the photograph above is one of the most remarkable pieces in our collection.  Yes, I’m serious.  While on the surface this photo is a little crass, allow me to explain just how unique this piece is.  In other words, this is my attempt to write a mature, thoughtful blog post about one of our most immature collection items. 

The photograph is a part of our collection of materials from Charles Whipple, a Horseheads resident.  We have his diaries, photographs, and other assorted documents.  Tucked in amongst these items is the photograph in question.  There are several photographs of these two dogs, showing them around the yard and in the home (and even on the bed).  The photos are dated 1948. 

This collection is a lovely glimpse at mid-century pet keeping.  Candid photos like these give us a better understanding of how our relationships with our pets have changed and stayed the same over time.  Like Whipple, people today take pictures of their animals playing, sleeping, or being otherwise adorable. 

The dogs look well loved.  But still, the first picture is special. 

First, it is remarkable that this photograph was even taken.  Photographic technology had made great strides in portability and affordability by the 1940s, but film was still a valuable resource.  There were families that took few photos of their children in the 1940s, much less their dogs.  So that someone would use a frame on this scene (and also the fact that they had a camera handy when this went down) is noteworthy.  And, not only was the picture taken, it was developed.

Someone cared enough about this photo to date it on the back (many of the other photos in the collection are not dated).  They also kept it.  Maybe it became a family joke. Eventually, the photograph was donated to the museum in 2009 as a part of the much larger Reverend Donald Roe collection (Whipple was Roe’s parishioner and his possessions were left in Roe's care after his death, thus adding another layer of improbability to the survival of this photograph). 

It is impressive that this small, silly photograph exists.  While it is not typically what most people would deem museum-worthy, I think that it is because it's a great reminder that people in the past were very much like us.  And if anything, this photo shows us that poop jokes have always been funny. 

It's A Gas

by Rachel Dworkin, Archivist

Everyone knows that war is serious business, but so, in its own way, is humor.  There are a number of competing theories about humor, its mechanisms, and its functions.  People frequently use jokes to defray tense social situations, resolve cognitive dissonances, and talk obliquely around difficult issues.  During World War I, magazines for both civilians and soldiers relied heavily on humor. 

1915 cartoon pokes fun at the rush to marriage among Europe's soldiers.

World War I began in the summer of 1914, but the United States did not enter the fighting until April 6, 1917.  From the start, the official policy was that of neutrality, but many people took sides based on familial and economic ties.

As far as many Americans were concerned in 1915, domestic issues were more important than the war.

Towards the start of the war, the British navy established a blockade around German ports to keep them from receiving food and war supplies.  They began first turning around and then until President Wilson protested.  In retaliation for the blockade, German U-boats began sinking trading and passenger vessels bound for Britain.  On May 7, 1915, they sunk the RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 civilians including 128 Americans.  The American public opinion turned sharply against the Germans and after several threats from the president they agreed to stop attacking passenger ships.   The resumption of U-boat attacks in 1917 was one of the major reasons for America’s declaration of war. 

Traveling by boat meant taking your life in your hands.  Hilarious, right?

In October of 1915, President Wilson lifted a ban on loans to the warring nations.  He argued that the loans, and the purchases of food stuffs and manufactured goods paid for with the loans, would help bolster the American economy.  By the time America entered the war in 1917, its private banks and investment firms had lent $2.25 billion to Britain and France and another $27 million to Germany. 

1915 comic poking fun at the Allie's demands for American loans.

Upon entering the war, America drafted 2.8 million men into military service and, by 1918, was sending nearly 10,000 of them were arriving in France daily.  In keeping with the British tradition, these soldiers published humorous magazines including Yank Talks and The Gas Attack filled with cartoons, poems, stories, and jokes.  Soldiers used them to complain about and poke fun at their food, clothing, NCOs, Officers, and military protocol.  In some cases they also drew attention to some of the more ludicrous aspects of their lives in the trenches. 

Two American trench magazines, 1918.

British comic by Captain Bruce Bairnsfather



For more information about historical humor, come to this afternoon’s Out to Lunch lecture “Hey, That’s Not Funny” at 12:05pm.  You bring your lunch, we’ll bring the cookies and comedy. 

Festivus: A Celebration (For the Rest of Us) through Artifacts

By Kelli Huggins, Education Coordinator

December 23^rd is Festivus, the satirical holiday popularized by Seinfeld in the late 1990s.  A reaction against the commercialization of Christmas, Festivus was an annual tradition of the family of show writer Dan O’Keefe before it got the TV treatment.  Festivus celebrations feature an unadorned Festivus pole, the Airing of Grievances, and Feats of Strength.  

Now, how does Festivus relate to the history of Chemung County?  Well, truthfully it doesn’t really.  However, since Festivus has become such a cultural phenomenon (for example, I’ve never celebrated it yet somehow I have learned all of its traditions through cultural osmosis), I thought that it would be fun to use it as a lens through which to highlight some objects in our collection.  No, they aren’t Festivus objects, but we can still have some fun looking at them in the spirit of the day.

Let’s start with the Festivus pole.  The centerpiece of any Festivus celebration, this is typically an unadorned aluminum pole.  Here is a flag pole from our collection.  Now, this is wood and the eagle at the top and the tassel would make it a little overdressed for a traditional Festivus pole, but we’ll go with it anyway.

Next, we’ll move on to the Airing of Grievances.  In this tradition, one tells others all of the ways that they have been a disappointment during the year.  To illustrate the Airing of Grievances, I present to you samples from a newspaper column written by Robert Quillen in the 1920s and 1930s.  In these articles, Quillen discusses all of the problems that he sees with modern society, from immoral ways to a lack of “proper” education.  He also wrote a series of open letters to his “flapper” daughter that I will explore in a future blog post.  Below are two examples of Quillen’s work, colorfully titled, “Woe to the Man Who Has Only a Fork When the Soup is Served” and “If You Flavor the Ice Cream with Garlic, Why Blame the Freezer?”

Finally, the main event: Feats of Strength.  In a Festivus celebration, after dinner the guests wrestle or otherwise vie for physical dominance against their host.  I’ve selected a couple of items that showcase various types of strength. 

Cyclone Williams was a local African-American boxer.  His wonderful letterhead features him in his boxing attire and bills him as “Elmira’s Sensational Battler.”

This is an image from an early Chemung County fair.  An acrobat performs his impressive stunts as a crowd of dapper spectators look on.  Notice the acrobat hanging from the bar with one arm- a feat of strength indeed, especially as there is no safety net below.    

 

Vintage LOL Cats and Other Funny Felines

By Kelli Huggins, Education Coordinator

Take a picture or video of a cat and slap a funny caption on it and you have Internet gold.   Keyboard Cat, Grumpy Cat, and other so-called LOL Cats have taken the web by storm over the past few years (my personal favorite is Henri, Le Chat Noir, the “French” tuxedo cat in deep existential despair.)  With endless LOL cats to brighten our lives now, how sad it must have been to have lived in a pre-Internet world without cats and their people asking such vital questions as “I can haz cheezburger?”

But alas, we’re not as clever and innovative as we think.  We have merely used our technology to play on a great, eternal, and universal truth: people have always liked funny cat pictures.

As evidence, I would like to bring your attention to the late nineteenth century.  Much like now, this was a cat image golden age.  Due to wider acceptance of the concept of pampered pets, cats with funny sayings adorned trade cards, magazines, and other printed materials.  Below is a series of trade cards from the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (or A&P as we know them now).  They detail love and violence cat-style.

Funny feline appearances were not limited to cartoons and made-up cats.  The era had its own celebrity cats who received the caption treatment.  Below are images of Mark Twain’s cats Blatherskate, Sourmash, Apollinaris, and Zoroaster with the captions that they were given in an 1899 issue of St. Nicholas: An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks:



"Mark Twain's Cats, Before the Dog Interfered"

"The Dog Taps on the Window"

Since this is a very visual topic, I will leave you with a few more of my favorite local cat-themed trade cards.  So next time you’re enjoying a video of a cat in a shark costume chasing a duck while riding a Roomba, remember the historic origins of our crazy Internet obsessions.