I've been away from all things history for the last seven weeks to concentrate on the provincial election, but I am definitely looking forward to getting back in to a few projects which I had put on hold, or have popped up over May and June!
One quick topic that I thought I'd cover tonight, is the concept of Father's Day, and how it got its start, how quickly was it adopted here in Ottawa, and how long did it take to become commercialized?
Wikipedia is an easy place to start, and it has the thorough history of the day's origins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father%27s_Day. In short, it has its earliest beginnings in Catholicism, but in the U.S. did not really emerge with any traction until 1910, coming partially in response to the then-established Mother's Day holiday, and again with a more religious slant, where Churches were focusing their sermon on the third Sunday of June to honour fathers. Sonora Smart Dodd is credited as the first to push the creation of a Father's Day, in memory of her father who raised her and her five siblings as a single parent. Within a few years, President Woodrow Wilson had pushed for Father's Day to become a federal holiday, but Congress was hesitant. Father's Day seemingly never actually became 'official' until the late 1960s, but was driven from the 1920s onwards, as you might expect, by commercial interests.
The first mention of anything to do with Father's Day in Ottawa came in 1913, when the Ottawa Journal ran a short editorial, largely mocking the idea:
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| May 16, 1913 Ottawa editorial |
A year later, the Journal ran an article highlighting that Father's Day was newly being recognized throughout the U.S., but notes that Ottawa has never recognized it to that point, and on top of that, that Father's Day was actually for "the beloved father who has passed this life rather than the living father who is commemorated.":
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| June 20, 1914 article |
American columnist Dorothy Dix was hugely popular and widely syndicated as one of the first writers of advice columns. Her 1921 take on Father's Day and the under-appreciation of fathers in general is quite interesting, in the midst of Father's Day first gaining support in North America:
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| June 18, 1921 |
However it is June of 1923 where Father's Day first arrives in Ottawa. The event was pushed by the Rotary Club, who held a luncheon at the Chateau Laurier on June 18th honoring fathers. The guest of honour was Dr. J. H. Putman, who played a prominent role in Ottawa education circles, but was also father of nine, and a humorous speech on the topic of "Father" was given by Ainslie W. Greene. Greene joked at that luncheon that while researching material for his address, he consulted dictionaries where immediately preceding father was the definition of "fathead", but also that he had considerable trouble finding a resource which gave true tribute to fathers; that in the Middle Ages "a father was frequently recorded as being brutal and a drunkard", and in more modern times "little or nothing was being said for father". In fact Greene was dismayed that he had to turn to the writings of Homer, of the ancient Greek period for positive writings on fatherhood.
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| June 9, 1923 |
The Rotary Club's proclamation essentially birthed Father's Day in Ottawa, and of course merchants did not delay in taking advantage. To answer the question I started this article off with - how long did it take for Father's Day to become commercialized? It took four days!
On June 13th, Fisher's on Sparks Street ran an ad promoting "Buy a Tie for Dad!". And so it began...
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From the June 13, 1923 Ottawa Journal,
the first ever Father's Day ad run in Ottawa! |
Two days after that, the Journal seized the marketing opportunity and basically ran a nearly-full page ad with several participating businesses, promoting this new "Father's Day" and all the ways you can show your Dad how you appreciate it - through ties, a belt, shoes or a cigar!
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| June 15, 1923 Ottawa Journal |
The following four or five years saw the media taking swipes at the obvious commercialism of Father's Day, and it seemed for a while the idea may die off, but despite the skepticism and the deserved mocking of the whole idea of buying-your-father-a-tie-to-show-him-how-much-you-appreciate-him, the powers of big business proved too strong, and Father's Day was here to stay.
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| March 22, 1927 editorial |
So here we are, 95 years after Ottawa's Rotary Club brought Father's Day to our city. Personally, I like the idea of acknowledging the original spirit of Father's Day in using the day to commemorate those fathers who have left us. Maybe I'm a little biased though, as sadly I happen to part of that group as I lost my amazing Dad seven years ago at the far-too-young age of 61. Either way, for all of you who have lost your Dad or are fortunate to still have him with you, or if you are a Dad or a Dad-to-be, I wish you all a great Father's Day here in this great City of Ottawa.
