Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
This red and pink felt pennant is one that belonged to the Southern Club, a student organization at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (PCP). The Southern Club existed during the first two decades of the 20th century, with the earliest documentation of the Southern Club coming from the 1902 PCP yearbook.
The club was organized for PCP students who were Southern natives with the stated aim to congregate in friendship and comradery. Overtime, members hailed from a variety of locations, including states south of the Mason-Dixon Line, what we now consider the midwest and Latin America, often returning to their hometown after graduating to practice pharmacy. Yearbooks from this time depict Southern Club members posing with a Confederate themed flag as well as students in a minstrel troupe, thus exhibiting the complex history that existed in both the North and South following in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Many geographical and cultural clubs existed at PCP during the early 1900s. However, around the time of World War I, almost all of these organizations ceased operations. The Southern Club is last seen in the 1917 PCP yearbook. Around the turn of the century, felt pennants like this one were commonly seen in school club photographs and at sporting events.
(Joshua Wilson, 8/22/23)