“Mothers’ Day”*
*THE HOLIDAY WAS USUALLY WRITTEN “MOTHERS’ DAY,” AS ABOVE, THOUGH IT HAD BEEN OFFICIALLY TITLED “MOTHER’S DAY,” BY WOODROW WILSON’S 1914 DECLARATION.
One hundred years ago today … It was Mother’s Day in the US. New York paid special attention to mothers of the slain marines of World War I with an event in Central Park.
The Daily News, 10 May, 1920, p. 1.
There were plenty of less bittersweet celebrations of motherhood, including poems in the newspapers and parties in (oddly enough) funeral homes.
The composer of “Mothers’ Day,” below, Dr. Bethold A. Baer, seems to have been a minor poet of some repute, once mentioned alongside Joseph Conrad.
The Evening World, 7 May, 1920, p. 36.
Broadway and West 66th Street, 1920. Arthur Hosking, photographer. Museum of the City of New York. Campbell Funeral Church at right.
Need a gift idea? Bloomingdale’s had it covered.
Bloomingdale’s, founded in 1860 on the Lower East Side, had moved to 59th Street and Lexington Avenue in 1910; it is, of course, still there, a major US department store. Plethora of gift suggestions notwithstanding, the store seemed to be out of apostrophes. (Note the lack of possessive apostrophe for Mother’s Day or the store name at the bottom of the ad.)