For a similar membership card parody published as a postcard, see Independent Order of Hot Air Dispensers Membership Card (below).

Buzzer's Hot Air Club and Grand Order of Windjammers

This is to certify that Mr. ________ has been elected member of Buzzer's Hot Air Club and is allowed to expound his hot air at any time with police protection.

A. Airmerchant. president.

Tags:   ephemera postcards membership cards members membership cards joke cards paper printed Buzzer's Hot Air Club Buzzer Hot Air Club hot air hot air Grand Order of Windjammers windjammers orders fraternal organizations fraternal groups fraternal clubs organizations groups societies associations presidents air merchants certify certificates bellows seals fill in the blanks illustrations borders parodies humor humorous funny comic 1908 1900s antique old vintage type typefaces typography fonts

© All Rights Reserved

"Die elft yairlich Fersommling uns Fesht fon da Grundsow Lodsch Nummer Neina on Da Deef Runn. Mittwuch ovet der sivve un zwanzichscht Chanevari om halver siwwa owets im Nei Hilltown Schuulhause, Hilltown, Pa."

Rough translation: "The eleventh yearly gathering and feast of the Groundhog Lodge Number Nine on the Deep Run, Wednesday evening, January 27, at 6:30 in the evening in the New Hilltown Schoolhouse, Hilltown, Pa."

A groundhog adorns the cover of this 1965 booklet containing the program for a gathering of the all-male members of Grundsow Lodsch Nummer Neina (Groundhog Lodge Number Nine). The lodge is one of several groups that meet to promote the Pennsylvania Dutch language, and get-togethers often take place on or near Groundhog Day (February 2) each year.

For another Grundsow Lodsch item, see Groundhog Lodge No. 12, Gathering, Shartlesville, Pa., May 4, 1990 (below). For further information, track down a copy of William W. Donner's book, Serious Nonsense: Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2016).

By the way, the Pennsylvania German Groundhog Lodges and their gatherings, which began in the 1930s, are distinct from the celebrations featuring the nationally known Punxsutawney Phil, who's been prognosticating the weather for the Punxsutawney, Pa., Groundhog Club since 1886, and other local groundhog celebrities, including Octoraro Orphie, who's the weather forecaster for the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge of Quarryville, Pa., which has been in existence since 1908.

Tags:   ephemera programs booklets covers paper printed Groundhog Day February 2 holidays groundhogs woodchucks animals grundsow shadows Grundsow Lodsch Groundhog Lodge No. 9 Deef Runn Deep Run groundhog lodges fraternal organizations societies groups lodges Fersommling Versammling Fersammling gatherings banquets events Pennsylvania Dutch Pennsylvania German lanugages dialects illustrations Hilltown Pa. Bucks County Pennsylvania January 27 1965 1960s old vintage borders typefaces type typography fonts

© All Rights Reserved

"Bristol County Association. G.A.R. Clambake. Riverview Park, Labor Day. Seat No. 332."

Handwritten additions to the front of this ticket: "C. L. Deane & J.D.H. Jr. Sep. 6/88. (over.)"

Handwritten note on the back (see below): "Worst clam bake I ever went to. Tables set in open field. Broiling hot sun. Clams half done. One waiter to our table. Everything in the bake was smoky. Everybody disgusted. C. L. Deane."

"C. L. Deane" was clearly displeased with the food and service at the clambake that he and "J.D.H. Jr." attended as part of an early observance of Labor Day in 1888. The Bristol County Association, based in Bristol County, Massachusetts, was a local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), an American Civil War veterans' organization.

C. L. Deane may have been Charles Learned Deane (1871-1955). If so, he would have been only 17 years old when he registered his complaints about the clambake on his ticket for seat no. 332.

Originally posted on Ipernity: Labor Day Clambake Ticket, Bristol County Association of the G.A.R., Sept. 6, 1888.

Tags:   ephemera tickets admission tickets admissions paper printed clambakes clams meals food events Labor Day holidays C. L. Deane Charles Learned Deane Deane men worst disgusted complaints smoky GAR Civil War Bristol County Association Grand Army of the Republic American Civil War wars military veterans fraternal groups groups organizations associations patriotic flags stars stripes tattered drums bugles musical instruments music bayonets guns rifles swords axes hats caps knapsacks blanket rolls handwriting illustrations borders brown Riverview Park Bristol County MA Mass. Massachusetts September 6 1888 1880s Victorian 19th century nineteenth century antique old vintage typefaces type typography fonts

© All Rights Reserved

Originally posted on Ipernity: Worst Clambake I Ever Went To.

"Worst clam bake I ever went to. Tables set in open field. Broiling hot sun. Clams half done. One waiter to our table. Everything in the bake was smoky. Everybody disgusted. C. L. Deane."

Complaints about the food and service at a clambake that was held over 125 years ago. For more information, see the front of this ticket (below).

Tags:   ephemera tickets admission tickets admissions paper printed clambakes clams meals food events Labor Day holidays C. L. Deane Charles Learned Deane Deane men worst disgusted complaints smoky GAR Civil War Bristol County Association Grand Army of the Republic American Civil War wars military veterans fraternal groups groups organizations associations patriotic flags stars stripes tattered drums bugles musical instruments music bayonets guns rifles swords axes hats caps knapsacks blanket rolls handwriting illustrations borders brown Riverview Park Bristol County MA Mass. Massachusetts September 6 1888 1880s Victorian 19th century nineteenth century antique old vintage typefaces type typography fonts

© All Rights Reserved

"Pennsylvania Railroad. Centennial Excursion. Under the auspices of Putnam Circle, No. 113, B.U. (H.F.) of Pa. Columbia to Philadelphia and return. On Saturday, October 14, 1876 . Tickets, $2.00. 1."

As Wikipedia explains, the Centennial Exposition "was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia." It was "the first official World's Fair in the United States."

The organization sponsoring the rail excursion--"Putnam Circle, No. 113, B.U. (H.F.) of Pa."--was a local chapter of the Brotherhood of the Union (Holy Flame) of the Continent of America. Founded in 1850 by author and labor organizer George Lippard, the Brotherhood was "a secret benevolent society aiming to eliminate poverty and crime by removing the social ills causing them."

Putnam Circle, No. 113, was organized in Columbia on February 10, 1875, and had sixty members by 1883, according to the History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, by Franklin Ellis and Samuel Evans (Philadelphia: Everts and Peck, 1883), p. 581. Columbia is located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, about ninety miles west of Philadelphia.

Originally posted on Ipernity: Pennsylvania Railroad Centennial Excursion, Columbia to Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 14, 1876.

Tags:   ephemera train tickets tickets paper printed Pennsylvania Railroad PRR railways railroads trains fares transport transportation Centennial Excursion Centennial excursions Centennial Exposition International Exhibition expositions exhibitions anniversaries Putnam Circle No. 113 Brotherhood of the Union Holy Flame BUHF brotherhood fraternal groups groups organizations benevolent societies societies borders blue Columbia Pa. Lancaster County Pennsylvania Philadelphia October 14 1876 1870s Victorian 19th century nineteenth century antique old vintage typefaces type typography fonts

© All Rights Reserved