Cleveland Cat Club, 1902

This is an advertisement for Cleveland Cat Club's first cat show, held on November 30 and December1-2, 1904.

Interesting, in that CFA held its International Show in Cleveland this year ... 114 years later. The International Show was held at the I-X Center in Cleveland and attracted over 800 cats from around the world.  It's going to be back in Cleveland in mid-October, 2019 as well!

From "The Cat Journal", October 1904. These magazines are part of the Glendale Library's Cat Collection that was donated to The CFA Foundation. The magazines were donated to the Glendale Library by Mrs. Muriel Alexander. Binding of the magazines donated by The Billig Clinic.

CATICONS

If you are passing through the International Terminal at San Francisco Airport, be sure to check out the CATICONS display. Details can be found at https://www.flysfo.com/museum/exhibitions/caticons-cat-art

CATICONS, a book by Sandy Lerner, details her impressive collection  of antique cat "icons" and artwork.


The exhibit is open through April 21, 2019.

1884 New York Fanciers' Club

Here is the show flyer for the January, 1884 cat show produced by New York Fanciers' Club at Madison Square Garden in New York City.  This cat show was held in conjunction with a pet fair, as was common at the time. The inside of the flyer listed the "Premiums" (prizes) that were to be awarded.

This artifact is from the personal collection of Karen Lawrence.

CFA Registration Certificate

When CFA was started in 1906, all of its registration certificates were handwritten, using a fountain pen.  This is the Registration Certificate for a kitten named White Prince, a white male longhair (Persian) who was registered on December 10, 1910.  He was owned by Mrs. B. Lewis. Note that the registration fee was 25 cents.

In December of 1912, Mrs. Lewis changed her name to Mrs. Lewis Becker, with the transfer fee being 25 cents.

Both registrations are signed by E.R.B. Champion.  Miss Ethel B. Champion was the first Registrar for the newly formed Cat Fanciers' Association in 1906. She served in that capacity until 1917, when she left CFA. In 1919, she was a driving force in the formation of a new organization, the United Cat Fanciers' Association, which eventually became the Cat Fanciers Federation (CFF).

Miss Champion emigrated to the United States from England with her mother, Florence, who was a well-known breeder of silver Persians, and her sister, Dorothy, who was the author of "Everbody's Cat Book", published in 1909.

George Summerville

The CFA Foundation owns several pieces of art, both color as well as black/white, by the late CFA judge, George Summerville of Texas. Besides being a popular CFA judge, George was also an extremely talented artist and the Foundation is honored to be displaying his work.

This particular piece is Grand Champion, National Winner Groovycats Alexander the Great, a brown mackerel tabby and white Maine Coon who was CFA's 18th Best Cat in the 1990-1991 show season. 

The painting below is of Grand Premier Countrylove's Periwinkle, bred by Shirley Michaud-Dent. Commonly called "Tom's Cat", the painting was a birthday present to Tom Dent, who at the time was the Executive Director of The Cat Fanciers' Association, Inc.

The painting below is of Grand Champion, National Winner Jadon Geoffrey Beene, a black Persian that was CFA's Best Cat for the 1991-1992 show season.

Happy New Year!

Historical Artifact - Valley of the Moon Trophy

Not much is known about this 3-handled trophy, recently donated to the Feline Historical Museum by Pat Jacobberger. The pewter and copper trophy is engraved "VALLEY OF THE MOON TROPHY", which may well mean that the trophy was donated by Valley of the Moon Cattery. Trophies donated by individuals and catteries was a fairly common occurrence at shows held in the early 20th century. 

Linechaser records show 30+ Persians registered in the early-mid 1920's with the Valley of the Moon cattery name, which enables us to approximately date the trophy.

The 5" high trophy is also engraved "Best Cream or Fawn Female. 4 Wins to Hold". As the majority of Valley of the Moon Persians were registered with the American Cat Association (ACA), this is most likely a trophy awarded at ACA shows.

UPDATE: A quote from the May, 1942 edition of ALL-PETS MAGAZINE - "My older pictures in the scrap book show Valley of the Moon, imported female owned by Mrs. Simmons, Sonoma, California. She did quite a bit of winning ... "