Thread by @graemeknows

An alumnus of @ymca @camptakodah recently acquired one of our original "vitrified china" mugs on @eBay. This simple find took me down a path to learning something new about our 105 year old camp. A brief history detectives thread. cc @yarchives

When he got the mug, he shared photos of it with me, including the production date stamp on the bottom. I assumed that meant "June, 1931" but I wasn't sure. If it was correct, that meant that @camptakodah was using branded china ~10 years earlier than we previously were aware of.

A quick search helped me discover the history of the Bailey-Walker China Co. via @BedfordOhioHist. They made similar pieces for hotels, restaurants, clubs, churches and @ymca's like ours. This was good but I still wasn't sure if I was right about the date. bit.ly/3sqq6ON

Rest assured, the internet knows all! Another quick search lead me to the Restaurant Ware Collectors Network. Guess what they had? A complete listing of the Bailey-Walker China Date Codes. Now I knew for sure that this mug was produced in June of 1931. bit.ly/2NV9W0R

But, why does that matter? The date is important not only because it helps us understand when we started using items branded with our original logo. It's also a clue I can use to search our records to determine when Co-Directors Oscar (1) & Francis (2) Elwell received the china.

You see, until 2012, @camptakodah was "Boys in July, Girls in August." So I had to wonder if the china was produced in Ohio in June of 1931, did it make it to NH in time for that summer's sessions? Or was it the following year, perhaps? Also, was this the first run or a re-stock?

I found a single entry in our records that says "1928 - Silver for Takodah donated by Marlboro Mothers." However, the limited record (known as the Sketch History) does not mention china or anything similar being ordered between 1919 and 1932. However, 1928 is another clue. Why?

That's the year the "new" Dining Hall was opened for use. Was the silver & china purchased for that reason? It seems logical. If so, the "6/31" set was likely a re-stock or expansion order as camp was always growing. "Bigger and better," as Oscar reported year after year.

This search is not over. I contacted @BedfordOhioHist to see if they have any Bailey-Walker China Co. records dating back that far. I also need to do a line-by-line search of our meeting minutes and financial records from that era. I'll find it. After all, history takes time.

And yet, now I wonder what else is out there that we don't know about? Each piece of Takodah has a story to tell. No matter how big or small it might be, every item has important meaning to those who learn from it to understand how camp has changed over the past century.

How can we figure that out? Let's ask the alumni! There's no better place to start. In our Spring 2021 issue of Whispers (a @camptakodah newsletter) we'll include the following blog post. Hopefully we'll get some interesting responses. Stay tuned! camptakodah.org/2021/03/24/sea…

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