Information Sheet

 

 

R         Southeast Missouri Drummers’ Association.

680                  Souvenir Program, 1910.

One folder, photocopies.

 

 

 

This is the souvenir program of the fourteenth annual meeting of the Southeast Missouri Drummers’ Association, held at Sikeston, Scott County, Missouri, 26-28 May 1910.  The program features a schedule of events, descriptions of prominent Scott County businesses, photographs of officers and members of the association, and views of businesses, residences, and public buildings in Sikeston.

 

The Southeast Missouri Drummers’ Association was a commercial organization of busi­nessmen, manufacturer’s agents, and traveling salesmen, known as “drummers,” who worked in southeastern Missouri.  Annual meetings were social events designed to strengthen commercial relationships between the large wholesale houses and other firms at St. Louis and Memphis, and local businessmen and customers at Sikeston, Caruthersville, Jackson, Cape Girardeau, and other towns.  Advertisements make up a large part of the souvenir program.  They identify many of the dominant firms in the regional trade, such as the Curlee Clothing Company, Kent & Purdy Paint Company, Hargadine-McKittrick Dry Goods Company, St. Louis Car Company, Rice-Stix Dry Goods Company, St. Louis Sash & Door Company, Norwine Coffee Company, Scalzo-Fiorita Fruit Company, Waters Pierce Oil Company, Brown Shoe Company, Huttig Sash & Door Com­pany, Independent Oil Company, St. Louis National Stock Yards, the Frisco and Iron Mountain railroads, and the brewers of Falstaff, Budweiser, Alpen Brau, and Hyde Park beers.

 

Annual meetings of the Association were notable events that drew thousands of attendees and spectators.  The 1909 meeting, held at Caruthersville, included a minstrel show, parade, and sporting events.  The “star attraction” of the meetings was always “Dress Parade,” in which the as­sembled drummers, dressed in white and carrying green and red umbrellas, marched down main street of the host city.

 

The fourteenth annual meeting began on 26 May.  Hundreds of drummers with families and friends converged on Sikeston aboard Frisco and Missouri Pacific/Iron Mountain passenger trains and Eagle Packet Company steamers.  The schedule included a welcoming ceremony hosted by the mayor, a parade, band concert, and dancing.  The next day’s events featured a meeting with the Sikeston Commercial Club, “Dress Parade,” a procession by elephants, sporting events, and the flight of an air ship.  The final day included another concert and a farewell ceremony.

 

The souvenir program for 1910 is illustrated with photographs of the officers, past presi­dents, committee chairmen, and members of the Association.  John R. Loomis of Charleston was president; W. A. Cantrell of Cape Girardeau, vice-president; Philip Good of Farmington, secre­tary; and B. E. d’Arcambal of Charleston, treasurer.  John G. Russell had charge of entertainment and amusement.  There is a brief review of the 1909 meeting at Caruthersville and a longer section devoted to Sikeston, “the Garden Spot of the World.”  The latter includes photographs of principal businesses, residences, and public buildings, and brief descriptions of Scott County businessmen and their firms.  Among the prominent local businesses noted are the Holly-Matthews Manufac­turing Company, Matthews Lumber & Manufacturing Company, Bruton Land & Investment Company, Farmers’ Supply Company, and Scott County Milling Company.

 

 

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