Serial Number 116094

[Sornborger]

I picked up this Old Town canoe in pretty good shape. 16' long. The man I got it from had in turn got it from his father. The story was that it came from "Springfield College". It has a number "6" printed on the bow so it appears to be from a group. I'm curious if the adjacent serial numbers went in a group to the same place. TIA for any assistance.

Nathan

 

[Benson Gray]

Welcome, the Old Town canoe with serial number 116094 is a 16 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, Yankee model with red Western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, and a keel. It was built between June, 1935 and January, 1936. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It was shipped on May 7th, 1936 to Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below.

This scan and several hundred thousand more were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/ot_records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/about-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. I looked through the adjacent records from 116080 to 116110 and didn't see any others that shipped to Mount Holyoke College or Springfield College. This is not unusual since sequential serial numbers rarely show up on the same order. Feel free to reply here if you have other questions.

Benson

 

[Sornborger]

Benson, Thank You very much! I greatly appreciate your efforts. In this case your information unleashed a little story.

When I went to look at this canoe I noticed that while it was very well cared for it had a variety of wood screw holes in the top of both stems, obscuring the serial numbers somewhat. My natural reaction was "what the heck!" some previous owner must have been a hack etc. Then I got your information. My mother went to Mount Holyoke College so I passed along that info. Turns out that they have a tradition (you can find it on their website), where the senior girls go out and sing to the lower classmen or something of the sort. In canoes, at night, with Japanese lanterns strung along them. To do this they screwed some poles to hold the lantern strings down to the stems, hence the holes. My mother was possibly in this same canoe 60 years ago and I just happened upon it.

 

[Benson Gray]

This is a great story and would make a wonderful article for the Wooden Canoe Journal. I would encourage you to write it up and send it to Dan Miller at editor@wcha.org for publication. The links at https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hatlas/traditions/serenade.htm and http://alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/blog/canoe-sing/ have more pictures and details if anyone else is curious. My wife and mother-in-law both graduated from Mount Holyoke and this is the first that I have heard about this tradition. Thanks,

Benson