Description
White ribbon, 5 1⁄2 inch long and 2 3⁄16 wide, with "N. C. Division U.D.C. Wilmington North Carolina October 12 to 15, 1909" printed in red ink. Whitehead and Hoag Co., Newark New Jersey" printed on reverse.
Object History
This ribbon is from the 1909 convention of the North Carolina Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). The 1909 convention was held in Wilmington. This ribbon was donated to the Museum by Laura Howell Norden Schorr (1902 to 1984). This ribbon likely belonged to Laura's mother, Gertrude Jenkins Howell (1867 to 1950). Mrs. Howell joined the UDC in 1905.
Whitehead and Hoag were a novelty printing business, which manufactured ribbons, buttons and other items for political parties and groups.
General History
After the Civil War, groups formed to honor veterans and to keep the memories of the war and those who died in it, alive. The Daughters of the Confederacy (forerunner of today's United Daughters of the Confederacy) was founded in 1894. These groups, along with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, worked to memorialize the Southern cause and to promote the idea that those who fought on the losing side did not die in vain.
Wilmington's women formed an early chapter of the group. In 1895, as a group of women discussed joining the newly formed daughters of the confederacy, they declared "The First undertaking of the 'Cape Fear Daughters of the Confederacy' will be the collection and preservation of Confederate relics and records in a permanent museum for North Carolina."
One of the driving forces behind the local organization was Eliza Hall Nutt Parsley (1842 to 1920). Mrs. Parsley's husband, William M. Parsely had been an officer in the Confederate Army, and died just days before the Lee surrendered in April 1865. Mrs. Parsley helped found the state organization, serving as the first president of the North Carolina division.