Ideal Mother Contest, 1941-1957
Historical Note
The Ideal Mother contest was a national contest run by the AFRO American Newspapers between 1946 and 1957. It evolved from a precursor contest known as the Typical Mother contest, evidence of which is found in the published paper as early as 1931, and which seems to have evolved into the Ideal Mother contest in 1946, with that year's winner being dubbed the Typical Mother winner of 1946, and the 1947 contest dubbed the Second Annual Ideal Mother contest.
The honor of Ideal Mother was awarded by the paper based on nominations sent by mail, and the winner was announced and celebrated each May around Mother's Day. At the height of the contest, winners were brought to Baltimore and given a shopping spree, a meeting with Maryland's governor, and invitations to banquets with local civic organizations. National winners, State winners and winners of Honorable Mentions were recognized in print. After 1957, individual mothers continued to be recognized and honored in the AFRO Newspapers in May without a formal contest.
Scope and Contents
Morgue files for the Ideal Mother contest include photographs and photomontages of most of the Ideal Mother winners and coverage of celebration activities. Also found are letters and photographs sent with nominations received by the AFRO Newspapers, correspondence and notes related to the administration of the prize and the organization of its culminating celebration, and clippings from the paper's promotion and coverage of the contest. Sound recordings are also found for the 1954 contest. Material related to national winners is arranged by year, except for the 1953 winner, Samuella Milton, for whom morgue material was not found during processing, and Lillie May Carroll Jackson, who was conferred the honor in 1957 and whose morgue material is found under her name in the General File series.
Extent
0.5 Linear Feet
Dates
- Creation: 1941-1957
Arrangement
Additional material related to the Ideal Mother contest and its predecessor, the typical mother contest, may be found elsewhere in the morgue filed under individual names.
Processing Information
The AFRO Subjects series of the AFRO Morgue files has been processed in tandem with the morgue processing project that began in 2023. Material in this series brings together files formerly scattered across the morgue. In creating this arrangement, in some cases material once filed under an inidividual's name may be filed under a more general subject heading related to the AFRO program.
Processing of the AFRO Subjects series of the AFRO Morgue files is ongoing. As each subject is completed, metadata is added to the finding aid.
Sources consulted for the historical notes are cited at the subseries level.
Bibliography
"How You Can Help Pick the Ideal Mother." Baltimore Afro-American (1893-), Apr 12, 1947.
Original Location
DS0303, GFB 005; DS0706, GFD 005; ML0803, MAR 134; ML0806, MAR 143; ML1005, MAR 172; TN1307, TUB 243; TN1307, TUB 244; WY0105, GFG 021
Repository Details
Part of the AFRO American Newspapers Archives Repository