3 minute read
Rita Quillen
The National Hobo Museum and Hobo Days Celebration
Rita Quillen
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Did you know there’s a National Hobo Museum and an annual Hobo Days gathering honoring the American itinerant workers and wanderers along our country’s highways and railways? I didn’t either until I got into the research for my novel WAYLAND. The main character, Buddy Newman, was one of those Depression-era hobos who rode the rails looking for a way to survive. Like many of them, he was an artist and a quite intelligent and educated person.
When I finally got the chance to go to the National Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa, my book was already out. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to go to it while I was still working on the book because they have an absolutely amazing collection of relics and memorabilia that I’m sure would have stirred my imagination to the extreme. I was amazed by their examples of the “tramp art” that many of them made and sold as a way to make money, I particularly enjoyed all the examples of objects bearing the famous hobo language, a series of symbols and markings that hobos used to give each other information about a particular locale: where it was safe to go, where there might be work, food, medical care.
Every summer, Britt and the Museum host a gathering of hobos-yes, there are many who still live that lifestyle—to the town for a big celebration, parade, car shows, arts and crafts, and all kinds of entertainment and education for the public about the hobo community, culminating of the naming of the Hobo King and Queen. They set up a “jungle,” complete with the little campsites of their members and huge pots of stew and other food for anyone who wants it, and they also hold a business meeting for their Hobo Foundation, formed in the 1970s by three of the prominent hobos.
If you are a history buff at all, you would enjoy the museum. It’s a part of the American story, particularly from the late 1800s through the 1930s, that many people don’t know.
If you would like to know more, go to https:// www.britthobodays.com/hobo-museum. They also have a Facebook page you can follow with lots of interesting posts and more pictures.
