The International Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, Incorporated is a fraternal and service organization whose members are involved in the forests products industry. Hoo-Hoo has members in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

, Australia,

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Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

History

The organization was founded on January 21, 1892 at

Gurdon, Arkansas Gurdon is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,212 at the 2010 census. __TOC__ History The town was founded in the late nineteenth century as a railroad town for the timber industry on the St. Louis, Iron Moun ...

by six men: B. Arthur Johnson, editor of the ''Timberman'' of Chicago; William Eddy Barns, editor of the '' St. Louis Lumberman''; George Washington Schwartz of Vandalia Railroad, St. Louis; A. Strauss of Malvern Lumber Company,

Malvern, Arkansas Malvern is a city in and the county seat of Hot Spring County, Arkansas, United States. Founded as a railroad stop at the eastern edge of the Ouachita Mountains, the community's history and economy have been tied to available agricultural and min ...

; George Kimball Smith of the Southern Lumber Manufacturers Association; and William Starr Mitchell, business manager of the ''

Arkansas Democrat The ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell. It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas' counties. By virtue of one of ...

'' of

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

. As most of these men were only connected to the lumber industry in a tangential way — company executives, newspapermen, railroad men, etc. — it was first suggested that the name of the new organization be "Independent Order of Camp Followers". However the group instead settled on the name Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo — the term ''hoo hoo'' having become synonymous with the term ''lumberman''. The first regular Concatenation was held at the St. Charles Hotel in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

, on February 18, 1892, when 35 of the leading lumbermen of the country were initiated.

Membership

Membership was restricted to white males over 21 who were engaged in the lumber industry as lumbermen, newspapermen, railroad men and saw mill machinery men. A Mrs. M. A. Smith of Smithton, Arkansas was initiated before the gender requirement was passed, so she stayed on as the Order's only female member. The Order was limited to having a maximum of 9,000 members. In the late 1890s, it had upwards of 5,000 members. By the early 1920s, this had grown to approximately 7,000. Membership is currently limited to people 18 and up who are of good moral character and are engaged in the forestry industry or "genuinely interested in supporting the purpose and aims of our order."

Organization

The order was more informal than other secret societies of its day. It did not have lodge rooms, enforced attendance at meetings or anything else that other orders had that could be avoided. The executive committee of the Order was known as the Supreme Nine and consisted of the Snark, the Senior Hoo-Hoo, Junior Hoo-Hoo, Scrivenoter, Bojum, Jabberwock, Custocatian, Arcanoper and Gurdon. Judicial affairs and care of the emblem were delegated to a House of the Ancients which consisted of the past executives of the Order and whose members served for life. By the late 1890s, the House included B. Arthur Johnson, William Eddy Barns and James E. Defebaugh. Each state or foreign country was ruled by a Viceregent Snark. Local groups were called Concatenations. In 1923, the Order's headquarters was at the Arcade Building in St. Louis. The Order did not have any sick, disability or death benefits, but it did quietly perform some charitable work among its members and assist them in finding employment.

Ritual and symbolism

The founders wanted the organization to be unconventional and unregimented. Its one aim would be "to foster the health, happiness, and long life of its members". In a spirit of fun, names for some of the officers were inspired by

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

's ''

The Hunting of the Snark ''The Hunting of the Snark'', subtitled ''An Agony in 8 Fits'', is a poem by the English writer Lewis Carroll. It is typically categorised as a nonsense poem. Written between 1874 and 1876, it borrows the setting, some creatures, and eight po ...

''. The Hoo-Hoo emblem is a black cat with its tail curled into the shape of a figure nine.

Atlanta branch

The

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

chapter of the Hoo Hoos worked and socialized with the Southern Forestry Congress. A monument commemorating the planting of trees by the Atlanta chapter of the Hoo Hoo Club in 1926 stands just inside the Park Avenue entrance to Piedmont Park.

References

{{reflist

External links

Hoo-Hoo International website

''The bulletin. A monthly journal devoted to the interests of Hoo-Hoo''

Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo
at The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture
Inventory of the International Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, Inc., Records, 1892–1972
in the

Forest History Society The Forest History Society is an American non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of forest and conservation history."Forest History Society." Echo Project. Center for History and New Media, George Mason University. http://echo.gmu. ...

Library and Archives, Durham, North Carolina
January 21, 1892: Hoo-Hoo International, Not Your Father’s Skull and Bones
1892 establishments in Arkansas Fraternal orders History of Arkansas Men's organizations in the United States Organizations established in 1892 Secret societies in the United States Organizations based in Arkansas