Forgetting fathers Day

Our first ever post in honor of Fathers Day

One hundred years ago today … New Yorkers paid no attention to Fathers Day, according to the scant mention in the newspapers, excepted by this remorseful note on the front page of the Herald.

The holiday dates, in the US, to 1908 (Myers 185). Among its early promoters was Sonora Dodd (née Smith), who wanted to honor her single-parent father (of six), William Jackson Smart. The holiday almost immediately faded into obscurity, but was revitalized in the late 1920s, according to a Vox article by Phil Edwards.

References / Further reading

Myers, Robert J.,  with the Editors of Hallmark Cards. The Complete Book of American Holidays. Ill. Bill Greer. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Co., 1993. 

– Jonathan Goldman, June 19, 1921

TAGS: holidays, family, father, patriarchy