Fraternal Bomber Jackets

Degree of Pocahontas Jacket, 1980s. The Ltd., United States. Museum Purchase, 2017.009.

The Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library recently acquired two bomber jackets embroidered with emblems for the fraternal group, Degree of Pocahontas and Improved Order of Red Men.The Degree of Pocahontas, also known as the Daughters of Pocahontas, is an American women’s fraternal auxiliary group founded in 1885 and associated with The Improved Order of Red Men. The Improved Order of Red Men officially formed in 1834 in Baltimore, Maryland with three basic tenets: Freedom, Friendship, and Charity.

The group’s national office and museum is currently located in Waco, Texas.  Today there are 11,000 Order of Red Men members and 5,500 Degree of Pocahontas members, in the United States. Both groups use names, regalia, and paraphernalia modeled after generalized ideas of American Indian culture. According to fraternal histories, members established these groups “with the express purpose of increasing patriotism, encouraging love of the flag, and maintaining the customs and legends of a once vanishing race.”   The organizations identify local chapters as “tribes,” states as “hunting grounds” and “reservations,” and officers as “Keepers of Wampum” and “Chiefs.” 

Improved Order of Red Men Jacket, 1980s. English Creek Sportswear, United States. Museum Purchase, 2017.010.

According to collectors’ notes, a since closed sporting goods store in New Jersey sold these jackets in the 1980s. The red Order of Red Men jacket also features the embroidered names of a chapter and city—the Pohatcong Tribe 61 in Tuckerton, New Jersey. Chartered in 1884, Pohatcong Tribe 61 still meets today, as does the Degree of Pocahontas Ptesan-Wi Council No. 1, also located in Tuckerton. We are currently researching the sporting goods store that sold the jackets, when they were sold, and if members of the Ptesan-Wi Council No.1 and Pohatcong Tribe 61 purchased or wore jackets like this one. If you have any ideas, please let us know in the comments section below.

To learn more about other Improved Order of Red Men items in our collection visit our previous blog.

 

Many thanks to David Lintz, Executive Director, Improved Order of Red Men Museum and Library, Waco, Texas.

 

References:

Alvin Schmidt, Fraternal Organizations Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Institutions (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1980), 287-289

Robert E. Davis, History Improved Order of Red Men (Waco, Texas: Davis Brothers Publishing Co., Inc., 1988) 24, 40.

George W. Lindsay, Official history of the Improved Order of Red Men (Boston, MA: Fraternity Pub. Co., 1893) 618.

 

 

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Improved Order of Red Men

To fully understand and appreciate Freemasonry in America, the National Heritage Museum collects objects and documents associated with all types of fraternal organizations.  This chart visually presents symbols and goals of the Improved Order of Red Men.  Founded in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1834, and modeled on the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Freemasonry, the group took idealized notions of Native American life as their inspiration.  Red Men met in “tribes” at “wigwams” and practiced rituals based on romanticized views of American Indian legends.  Ironically, the group was initially open only to white men.  Members likely set this exclusion in place as a reaction to rising immigration to the United States.

The Red Men also wore “Native American” regalia, with fringed leather pants and shirts and feather headdresses.  Their costumes suggest a connection to late-1800s historical pageants, which celebrated centennials and bicentennials of white settlement in the New World. 

Decorative prints like this one were popular during the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Used in the home and by the fraternity, this print reminded the member of the lessons he had learned and signified his membership to others who might see it in his home.

Our Totem, 1888, Frank W. Parkhurst, G.H. Buek and Co., lithographer, Boston, Massachusetts.  National Heritage Museum, gift of Kenneth Leeco, 89.71.  Photograph by David Bohl.