May I Have This Dance?

Dance card for the Casino Club's Sylvester Ball, 1887-1888. Founded by local Germans, the Casino Club was San Antonio's first social club and theater.

For many American high school students, the month of May is marked by preparing for and attending the prom. The first proms came about as a middle-class imitation of the grand debutante balls of the upper class. Historians believe that proms were common at colleges in the nineteenth century and became regular events at high schools in the early 1900s. While turn-of-the-century proms were generally simple events where young people dined together, by the 1920s and 1930s dancing had also become an essential element of the prom.

Dance card for the Casino Club's Neujahr's Ball, 1886-1887. The back of the card lists Gustav Groos, Udo Rhodius, and Adolf Schnaith as members of the organizing committee.

Beyond this history of dances for students, social dancing has a much longer and wider history in the United States and Europe. Evidence of these traditions, their evolution, and their significance in the broader society in which they took place can be found in a variety of primary sources, including dance cards. These small booklets became popular at balls and other dances in the early 1800s and remained fashionable into the twentieth century. They served two purposes. First and most importantly, a dance card was a practical item designed to help a lady keep track of her dance partners. The importance of this is stated in a finding aid for a collection of dance cards at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois:

Behavior at these formals followed relatively strict rules of etiquette. Gentlemen could solicit dances from any of the young ladies present; however, the young women were allowed the privilege to either accept or decline any solicitations they wish. Once a gentleman’s request was accepted, however, the young lady had to honor her promise. To keep track of her engagements, the woman recorded the name of her promised partner in her dance card. These small booklets, usually attached to a cord she could wear on her wrist, listed the evening’s scheduled program with a space next to each dance where the partner’s name could be penciled in.

Inside of a dance card, listing dance partners for an unidentified lady who attended the 30th anniversary ball for the San Antonio Turn Verein, a German gymnastic or athletic club, on October 26, 1895.

Additionally, women could also keep dance cards as a souvenir of the event attended. As indicated in Northwestern’s finding aid, dance cards were more than just a plain list of dances and partners. Rather, they were usually decorative and elaborate, with covers “fabricated from paper, cardboard, leatherette, wood, metal, or celluloid. Hand-decorated or printed, embossed or otherwise embellished with the logo of the organization, the cards reflect the prevailing styles of the era.”

Front of a dance card for a masquerade ball held at Lenzens Opera House on March 7, 1891. The name "Miss Laura Stein" appears in the lower right corner.

Even though a dance card usually does not list the name of the lady who used it, individually and collectively these items provide a revealing look into the past. Many include information about the event itself, including the sponsoring organization and names of organizers as well as when, where, when, and why the dance was held. Examining a collection of dance cards can reveal traditions and popular components. Dance cards also provide an interesting counterpart to dance manuals and “how-to” books: while these instructional materials reflected the preferences of individual teachers and societal standards of good taste, dance cards show what dances were actually being done.

To learn more about the history of dance cards and of social dancing in Europe and the United States, check out these additional web resources:

American Antiquarian Society, “An Invitation to Dance: A History of Social Dance in America.”

Library of Congress, “An American Ballroom Companion: Dance Instruction Manuals, ca. 1490-1920.” See specifically the essay entitled “Western Social Dance: An Overview of the Collection.”

Millikin University Archives, Staley Library, “Dance Card Days.”

Mixed Pickles, a vintage dance company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, “Vintage Dance Cards.”

Click here for a full citation of the documents and images included in this entry.

Battle of Flowers Parade

Battle of Flowers Parade in Alamo Plaza, circa 1890s.

With Fiesta taking place, throughout this week we’ll be highlighting some treasures from our collections related to this San Antonio celebration. The DRT Library has many books, vertical files, photographs, and archival materials that document and explore the history of Fiesta and the Battle of Flowers Parade from their inception to the present day.

The Alamo decorated for the Battle of Flowers Parade, circa 1890s.

Chief among our archival collections is the Battle of Flowers Association Records, which contains the non-current records of the organization deemed to possess enduring historic value. This collection is one of the largest held by the library and contains minutes, rosters, yearbooks, reports, correspondence, financial documents, printed material, drawings, photographs, motion picture film, videotape, audio tape, and artifacts generated and gathered by elected officials and various committee chairmen in the Association. Researchers can find additional archival materials relating to the Battle of Flowers Parade and Fiesta in several other collections, including the Reynolds Andricks Papers, 1935-1977; DRT 3 Fiesta San Antonio Collection, 1904-2007; and the Order of the Alamo Records, 1909-1990.

 

C.M. McAmis, photographed in a studio, riding the bicycle he decorated for the 1893 parade. (SC13162)

For this entry, we’re focusing on materials from the early history of the Battle of Flowers Parade. The first parade was held in 1891 due to the convergence of several factors, namely the desire of some San Antonians to replicate the flower festivals they had observed in Mexico City and in Nice, France; the movement in the city to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21; and the interest in marking the two hundredth anniversary of the settling of San Antonio by several Native American tribes. According to historian Judith Berg Sobré, “in spite of these vague plans, however, no concrete arrangements were made until the announcement of the impending visit of President Benjamin Harrison.” This first “visit to San Antonio by a sitting U.S. chief executive…galvanized the flower-battle enthusiasts to organize their own procession” (155-157).

Front of an invitation to the reception for President Benjamin Harrison.

Inside of the invitation.

The parade organizers – largely a group of well-to-do women who were active community volunteers – decided that the event would begin at 5:00 pm on April 20, not April 21, in honor of the president’s visit. This “would be long after the president’s departure,” writes Sobré, “but his schedule was too tight at any rate to permit him to witness such an entertainment.” Despite his absence, “the planners were counting on many visitors flocking to San Antonio that day and staying around to shop, so that the parade would have a large audience when the stores closed” (157). Furthermore, the planners decided that the parade would “form just off Alamo Plaza, pass through the plaza to Commerce Street, circle Main Plaza, and then return to Alamo Plaza. There, the [parade] marshals would divide the carriages into two columns, which would circle the plaza in opposite directions so that their occupants could throw flowers at each other” (158-159). The first parade was postponed due to rain and took place on April 24.

Two pages from the Official Program for the Battle of Flowers Parade, held April 21 and 22, 1899, showing the events on each day.

While initially the Battle of Flowers Parade was unique in that no larger festival occurred in conjunction with it, within a couple of years this changed as local organizations began hosting events associated with the event. Today, the Battle of Flowers Parade is the largest parade in Fiesta and is second only to the Tournament of Roses parade as the largest parade in the country. Additionally, the Battle of Flowers Association has been exclusively female group for most of its history, and the parade is the only parade in the country that is planned and directed completely by women.

Battle of Flowers pin, 1895.

References and Further Reading

Judith Berg Sobré, “Battle of Flowers Parade: ‘Fun with Flora,’” in San Antonio on Parade: Six Historic Festivals, by Judith Berg Sobre (2003).

Click here for a full citation of the documents and images included in this entry.

Women in Baseball

One of three sports cards at the DRT Library featuring female baseball players, circa 1880s.

To mark the convergence of Women’s History Month and the upcoming start of the baseball season, we wanted to feature three sports cards featuring female baseball players. We were excited to discover these intriguing items with a scrapbook containing several hundred sports cards (these were featured in an October blog post).

Female baseball player, playing at third base.

Preliminary research indicates that the women’s baseball cards date to the 1880s. Each card measures approximately 1.5 inches wide by 2.5 inches tall. In addition to showing a picture of the athlete, the front of each card also lists the position she plays as well as the name “Dixie Cigarettes”; like men’s cards from that era and the early twentieth century, tobacco companies produced baseball cards as promotional tools. Unlike men’s cards, the names of these female players are not included; as a result, at this time they have not been identified and nothing is known about them. The back of each card is blank.

Female baseball player, catcher.

Even though baseball is currently regarded as a sport for men, this has not always been the case. In her article “Transition of Women’s Baseball,” Gai Ingham Berlage writes that “from 1866 to 1935, women and girls were actively involved in amateur, semiprofessional, and professional baseball. On playgrounds, in high schools, in colleges, on industrial teams, on professional barnstorming teams, women and girls played baseball and excelled.” It has only been since 1935 or so that “softball [has] almost completely replaced baseball as a sport for women.” Beginning at that time, “baseball as a male domain and softball as the female equivalent became the cultural norm.” Notably, “this transition from women’s baseball to women’s softball was so complete that the public was no longer aware that women had ever played baseball” (72). As a result, when Phlip K. Wrigley developed the All-American Girls’ Baseball League in 1943, people incorrectly believed it was an “unprecedented idea” (77). Likewise, when A League of Their Own, a film about the league, was released in 1992, “it was a revelation to the public” (72).

To read more about the history of women in baseball, check out Berlage’s complete article, published in the journal Nine in 2000, by clicking here. (Note: article is a PDF document.)

Click here for a full citation of the documents and images included in this entry.

“Lovely Bluebonnets, More Beautiful Than All the Rest”

“Bluebonnets have inspired the poet’s pen, the artist’s brush, the cowboy’s dream, and the legislator’s eloquence throughout the broad spaces of Texas. Their royal beauty and enchanting fragrance have a particular message which speaks to the emotions with compelling directness.”

–Mary Daggett Lake, 1926

“I like the bluebonnet because a field of this Texas flower seems just to have burst from the ground and it trembles subtly, making it very beautiful.”

–Julian Onderdonk, 1914.

The Battle of Flowers Association's 1992 commemorative pin featuring bluebonnets.

A selection of materials from the DRT Library’s collections demonstrate the accuracy of Lake’s statement, which we are highlighting in this entry to mark the anniversary of the Texas legislature’s March 7, 1901 action recognizing the bluebonnet as the state flower.

In her 1926 work The Legend of the Bluebonnet, botanist and author Mary Daggett Lake describes how this came to be, writing that the Colonial Dames of Texas originated the idea. Passing easily in the Senate, the resolution faced opposition in the House, where many representatives knew the flower by other names and where some proposed other flowers such as the prickly-pear cactus flower and the cotton boll. To strengthen their case for the bluebonnet, the Dames presented a painting of the flower by Miss Mode Walker of Austin. According to Lake, “deep silence reigned for an instant. Then deafening applause fairly shook the old walls.” The bluebonnet had carried the day.

Sheet music cover for the 1936 song "Flower of Texas," poem by Evelyn Hornsby Mims and music by Dot Echols Orum.

Seventy years later, almost to the day, a second piece of legislation was needed to clarify the situation. The initial legislation applied only the the Lupinus subcarnosus species, which some Texans considered to be the least attractive of the bluebonnets. A seventy year argument about the flower was resolved when Governor Preston Smith signed legislation (H. C. R. No. 44) on March 8, 1971, making all six species of bluebonnets and “any other variety of Bluebonnet not heretofore recorded” the official state flower.

Cover art to sheet music for Ida Bassett Botts's song "Legend of the Blue Bonnets (State Flower of Texas)" (1936).

The bluebonnet has been the subject of numerous poems, songs, works of fictions, and art. In fact, the 1933 state legislature adopted a state flower song, written by Julia D. Booth and Lora C. Crockett, entitled “Bluebonnets.” While the DRT Library does not have a copy of this song, its sheet music collection does contain scores for other pieces that pay homage to the beauty of Texas bluebonnets.

Julian Onderdonk, Spring Morning, 1911. Oil on canvas, 20 x 30 inches. (SC95.015)

Finally, artist Julian Onderdonk (1882-1922) was well-known for his depictions of bluebonnets in his artwork, which earned him the nickname of the “bluebonnet painter.” Indeed, William Rudolph writes in his book Julian Onderdonk: American Impressionist that “his paintings of the bluebonnet landscape brought [him] acclaim, his only measure of financial success, and a host of imitators.” While Onderdonk was not the first artist to depict bluebonnets in paintings, Rudolph argues that “it is thanks to Julian that the imagery became both distinct and popular” (37).

Onderdonk first painted bluebonnets in his work Spring Morning (1911), completed two years after returning to Texas from New York. This work is in the collection of the DRT Library and, while currently on loan, is usually on display in the reading room. Rudolph argues that in this painting the “bluebonnets scattered across the middle ground act more as a color-note contrast to the cacti and other vegetation than as the primary locus of attention.” Even though Onderdonk experimented with other plants in his landscape paintings, by the mid-1910s bluebonnets dominated his work (37).

Click here for a full citation of documents and images included in this entry.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

As Valentine’s Day approaches, we thought we would share Valentine’s Day cards located in the library’s Ephemera Collection (DRT 2). These Valentines are from Ruth Seele Aniol, the wife of Claude B. Aniol. Mrs. Aniol, a San Antonio native, was a collaborator for her husband’s advertising agency’s publications. She passed away in 1988 in Dallas.   Claude and Ruth Aniol donated  a large amount of material to the DRT Library, including subject files, photographs, books, periodicals, newspapers, clippings, artifacts, and other printed items.

This postcard was made in Germany and is postmarked February 12, 1913.

This postcard is postmarked February 13, 1918.

This postcard, which was not mailed, was also made in Germany.

This postcard was likely made between 1913 and 1918.

This card features the following poem behind the angel's head: "Pure affection's sweetest token, Choicest hint of love unspoken, To my Valentine."

Front and back of card.

The front and inside of a card. This card is made by "Whitney Made, Worcester, Mass."

Front and inside of card. This card is also by "Whitney Made, Worcester, Mass."

Bringing in the New Year with Almanacs

January calendar from the 1840 Webster's Calendar.

It is easy to prove that no book we read (except the Bible) is so much valued, and so serviceable to the community. Almanacks serve as clocks and watches for nine-tenths of mankind.

~Dr. Nathaniel Low, essay ON ALMANACKS in An Astronomical Diary; or Almanack for 1786

Echoing Dr. Low’s sentiments more than two centuries later, retired cataloger Richard Anders explained the significance of almanacs on the American Antiquarian Society’s website:

“The almanac has been called the one universal book of modern literature. In early America it was the most abundant and most indispensable of all publications, a necessity to farmers, navigators, householders, townspeople, the gentry, the professional class, and even to scholars. The almanac had an essential place in homes where no other form of literature entered and where, often, not even the Bible and the newspaper were found.”

Cover of the New Orleans Almanac, 1858.

While the etymology of the word “almanac” is uncertain, it is known that almanacs have a lengthy history dating back to ancient civilizations. Europeans brought the genre to the North American colonies; in fact, with the exception of a broadside published the previous year, An Almanac for New England for the year 1639 – compiled by William Pierce of Harvard College and printed by Stephen Daye – is the first known work printed in the British colonies.

The DRT Library has about a dozen almanacs dating from approximately 1835 until 1860, including:

• American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for 1838, 1843, and 1857
• Davy Crockett’s Almanac for 1839, 1840, and 1847
• Methodist Almanac for 1856
• The New Orleans Almanac for 1858
• The Old Rough and Ready Almanac for 1849
• Webster’s Calendar: Or, The Albany Almanack for 1840
• The Whig Almanac and United States Register for 1846-1848, and 1851

With the exception of the bound, book-length American Almanac, the volumes in the DRT collections are pamphlets containing approximately thirty to sixty pages.

Illustrations and stories in the Old Rough and Ready Almanac - named after military commander and U.S. President Zachary Taylor - depicted significant events and American heroism in the Mexican War.

A biography of President Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) in the Whig Almanac and United States Register (1851).

These materials demonstrate the variety of almanacs published in the nineteenth century, as readers could choose, for example, from those published in towns throughout the country or by various political parties or religious groups. The DRT volumes also illustrate the breadth of information included in nineteenth-century almanacs. Richard Anders has summarized their content, asserting “if the almanac had a comprehensive subject, it was: How to get through life.” Indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary describes an almanac as “an annual table, or (more usually) a book of tables, containing a calendar of months and days, with astronomical data and calculations, ecclesiastical and other anniversaries, besides other useful information, and, in former days, astrological and astrometeorological forecasts.” While all of the almanacs in the DRT collection contain this type of information, they also contain substantial information about federal and state governments such as laws, election results, lists of elected officials, and budgets and financial circumstances. Additionally, some of the almanacs also include works of fiction and poetry; home remedies; lists and statistics; advertisements; and illustrations. Some even contain essays describing or offering opinions about events of the day such as tariffs, the Mexican War, the annexation of Texas, and the Oregon boundary controversy.

Even though the American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge (1843) was substantially longer than the other almanacs in the DRT collection, its table of contents indicates the kind of information these works contained.

Second page of the table of contents, American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge.

Click here for a full citation of the documents and images included in this entry.

Historic Christmas Cards

The library’s DRT 2 Ephemera Collection contains three examples of Christmas cards that reflect changing trends in card format and style during the first decades of the twentieth century.

The postcard below – postmarked in San Antonio on December 20, 1905 and sent to Miss Stella Faust in New Braunfels – demonstrates the boom in Christmas “penny postcards” that were popular after the turn of the century. The increasing popularity of these inexpensive cards, which were largely mass-produced in Germany and were cheaper to mail than cards, ended the manufacture of elaborate Victorian Era cards. The Christmas postcard remained popular in the United States until World War I, which ceased the import of German goods and stimulated the development of a domestic greeting card industry.

Christmas postcard from 1905.

The other two Christmas cards in the DRT collection are from the 1930s. During this decade, the folded card familiar today replaced single-sided cards and became the standard format. Like other folded cards from the time, the first card below has a picture and short greeting on the outside with a message, in this case a four line poem, inside. That single-sided cards were still being used is reflected by the second card, which is dated 1937 and was sent by Adina De Zavala, an early member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas who was instrumental in preserving the Alamo, and her sister and fellow DRT member, Mary.

The poem inside this 1932 folded card reads: "Across a bridge of pleasant thought / This old greeting will stray / They bring the same old-fashioned words / We like so well to say."

A 1937 single-sided Christmas card from DRT members and sisters Adina and Mary De Zavala.

While the practice of sending greeting cards can be traced back to the ancient Chinese and the early Egyptians, the history of modern greeting cards began in 1843. Englishman Sir Henry Cole, seeking to end the cumbersome task of hand-writing letters to many acquaintances, commissioned John Calcott (alternately Callcott) Horsley to create an image and message that could be duplicated for everyone on his list. Horsely lithographed and hand-colored 1,000 copies of this first commercial Christmas card; only twelve of them are known to still exist. Click here to see a picture of Horsley’s card.

Christmas cards were fairly rare in the United States until German lithographer Louis Prang began printing commercial cards in 1875. Before that, Americans who wanted Christmas cards generally had to pay a high price from a limited selection of cards imported from Europe, while others used business cards embellished with holiday ornamentation. Greeting cards quickly became popular among Americans, and Prang’s were the most popular ones available in the late nineteenth century; by 1881 he printed almost five million cards each year. However, Prang, whose cards ranged in price from seventy-five cents to $1.25 each, could not compete with the less expensive cards offered by other manufacturers, particularly those from Germany. In the 1890s, Prang abandoned his business.

Information for this entry came from a website compiled by private collector Greg Livaudais of Metairie, Louisiana, that explores the history of Christmas cards and provides numerous examples from the author’s personal collection of over 7,800 Christmas cards dating from 1864 to the present.

Click here for a full citation of the documents and images included in this entry.

Ulysses S. Grant’s Son Honored in San Antonio

San Antonians have welcomed many famous Americans and visitors from abroad to their city. These well-known guests have included presidents and other government officials; artists and entertainers; authors; military officers; religious leaders; and scholars.

Program cover for the banquet honoring Frederick Dent Grant, December 1, 1902.

One famous visitor, Frederick Dent Grant (1850-1912), was the guest of honor at a banquet sponsored by San Antonio’s Business Men’s Club and held on December 1, 1902 at the Menger Hotel. While not easily identified today, Frederick was the eldest child of Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia Dent Grant. An 1871 graduate of West Point, Fred enjoyed a lengthy military career in which he served with William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip Sheridan, and George Armstrong Custer and served in the Bannock War, the Spanish-American War, and the Philippine-American War. According to Frank Scaturro of the Grant Monument Association, Fred “became a Major General in the Army and was the second highest ranking man in the active service at the time of his death in 1912.” Additionally, at times Fred also worked as a civil engineer, businessman, diplomat to Austria, and New York City police commissioner.  

(Caitlin was formerly a Library Aid and Park Guide at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis, Missouri. As a result, she has an enduring interest in the Grant family and was very excited to find the program included in this entry. It should be noted that Ulysses S. Grant also visited San Antonio on at least a couple of occasions. As a soldier during the Mexican War, Grant traveled around southeastern Texas, visiting Corpus Christi and Austin as well as San Antonio; he described these travels and the countryside he saw in some detail in his Personal Memoirs. His later visit(s) to the city were much more social in nature, as, for example, he stayed at the Menger and was a guest at the Casino Club.)

Program and menu at the banquet.

The library’s collection of banquet programs in the DRT 2 Ephemera Collection documents this special event held for Frederick Dent Grant. Note also that the men who spoke at the banquet were among San Antonio’s most prominent citizens at the turn of the twentieth century.

For more information about famous San Antonio and Alamo visitors, please ask about the library’s vertical files about these topics.

Click here for a full citation of the documents and images included in this entry.

Alamo Premiere Weekend

Today is the 48^th anniversary of the world premiere of the John Wayne classic, The Alamo. The film premiered in San Antonio, and the city threw a weekend-long celebration to honor the movie and its stars.

On Saturday, the 22^nd, the city welcomed guests, including Wayne, at an airport reception. That was followed by a press reception, a symphony concert featuring the film’s score, and a San Antonio Press Club Gridiron Show. Also, according to the San Antonio Light, Frankie Avalon (pre-Annette) made an appearance at the Trinity-McMurray football fame. In the film, Avalon played “Smitty,” a fictional character.

Sunday, the 23^rd, was marked by other receptions and a special Night in Old San Antonio in the evening. Like NIOSAs during Fiesta, the event took place at La Villita and featured a wide variety of food and entertainment. The San Antonio Light reported that about 8,000 people attended. Below is a broadside advertising the event.

Broadside for the special NIOSA during the premiere.

Monday, the 24^th, began with a breakfast held at Alamo Plaza and ceremony honoring the Alamo defenders. This was followed by a luncheon at the Menger Hotel. Then, that evening, the highly anticipated premiere occurred at the Woodlawn Theatre.

The library has several copies of an official program created by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce for the weekend. Below is the schedule of official events from that program. Because of the document’s 18 inch by 12.5 inch size, a few words were cut off from the scan. The broadside featured above and the program reside in the library’s Ephemera Collection. Click on the images for larger views.

A list of events for October 22nd from the Chamber of Commerce's program.

The program's list of events for October 23rd and 24th.

Click here for a full citation of the documents and images included in this entry.

1899 State Fair of Texas

The State Fair of Texas, which takes place for three weeks during September and October each year in Dallas’ Fair Park, ended this past weekend. The event attracts a huge number of visitors and has an economic impact in Dallas of about $350 million each year.

The State Fair began in 1886 as the Dallas State Fair and Exposition. For more details on the history of the State Fair of Texas, click here. The library’s Ephemera Collection contains the program for the 1899 Fair, donated to the library by Edith White. The program includes descriptions of several exhibits and photographs from the fair grounds as well as a rundown of special days during the Fair, such as Texas Day, Confederate Day, Press Day, A&M College Day, Shriner’s Day, etc.

In addition, two notable events happened at the 1899 Fair. First, the National Democratic Carnival was a gathering for Democratic leaders to address political issues. One prominent Democrat in attendance was William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic nominee for President in 1900.

Second, the Grand Pageant of the Grand Orders of the Kaliphs was set up by liquor wholesaler Charles Mangold. According to Nancy Wiley in her book, The Great State Fair of Texas, the event “had been organized to present a gala civic entertainment along Mardi Gras lines. The three-day program would take place during the fair and include a welcome for the ceremonial Kaliph of Baghdad, a nighttime parade of illuminated floats through downtown and a grand ball that promised to rival any existing social event in the state.”

The following images are from the 1899 program. Click on the images for a larger view.

Click here for a full citation of the documents and images included in this entry.

Cover of the 1899 program for the State Fair.

An exhibit from a San Antonio ostrich farm.

Photographs of the State Fair Grounds.

The Grand Pageant of the Grand Order of the Kaliphs was meant to be a Mardi Gras-like celebration.

Democratic Carnival Day featured William Jennings Bryan as its main speaker.