1916 Official Souvenir Program, Pennsylvania State Camp and Golden Jubilee, Fifty-First Annual Sessions, Philadelphia PA, August 21-24, 1916
Philadelphia: Patriotic Order Sons of America, 1916. Wraps. 10.5 x 8 inches, softcover in medium brown stamps stamped in gilt on front, good, light wear, soil, crease lines to covers, contents good with light rippling to bottom margins of pages, small chip out of margin of one of the tipped in color plates (there are four such plates of Philadelphia landmarks). 76 pp, includes a history of the Patriotic Order. The Patriotic Order Sons of America is an American patriotic fraternal organization that traces its origins to the anti-alien riots of the 1840s. Founded in 1847 in Philadelphia, the P.O.S. of A. once had "camps" (chapters) in well over 20 states. At its peak, there were more than 800 Camps in Pennsylvania alone. Today, the society maintains a presence only in Pennsylvania, where it has 14 camps. The national headquarters are in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Alan Axelrod described them as follows: "The Patriotic Order, Sons of America (the name appears with and without the comma) was, like many organizations with “Patriotic” in their title, an anti-Catholic, anti-immigration Know-Nothing society. It originated as the Patriotic Order, United Sons of America at some time prior to 1847 in Philadelphia. The order disappeared with the collapse of the Know-Nothing Party, but was resuscitated in 1868, this time minus the epithet “United.” The degrees were Red, White, and Blue, and the women’s auxiliary was the (Patriotic) Daughters of America. The Patriotic Order, Junior Sons of America was founded as the junior branch in 1848, and the Patriotic Order of True Americans was the result of a merger between the Patriotic Order of Americans (another auxiliary) and the Daughters of America. There was even (according to the Philadelphia Public Ledger of September 1, 1923) a “fun” or “mummers” division of the Patriotic Order, Sons of America, called the Rough Riders." Good. Item #h44806
Price: $60.00