Wanda Graham and Elma Smithmyer both will celebrate their 90th. birthday in May.
Wanda "Mrs. Steamtrain" celebrates her day on May 11th and Luther the Jet's mother,
Elma Smithmyer celebrates her day on May 15th.  

It is wonderful to hear people get to celebrate their 90th. birthday.  This is a
wonderful milestone filled with lot of great memories.  It would be great to give
each of the ladies a "birthday card shower".  You can "make a difference" for one
day for them by sending them a birthday greeting.  

Wanda Graham  (May 11th.)
886 W. Graceway
Napoleon, Ohio 20776

Luther the Jet's mother"
Elma Smithmyer  (May 15th.)301 Phillips Street
Phillipsburg, PA 16866

Will you help them celebrate their 90th. birthday by sending them a birthday greeting?

Hello members of the Hobo Community.
 Over the past couple months a group of design students from Iowa State worked
on some wonderful design concepts for a National Hobo Memorial, Hobo Traveling
 Exhibit, a new National Hobo Museum facility, and redesign  options for the
 current hobo collection housed at the Chief Theater in Britt, Iowa. 
 
 Students presented their design ideas to the Hobo Foundation, friends and
 members of the Hobo community and Britt community.  The ideas were presented
 on February 29, 2008 at Mary Jo’s Hobo House in Britt. 
 
 If you would like to view the design work – it can be accessed at
 www.flickr.com
 (type in under search: bridgetbb.  Another page will open up and click on the
 people icon.  It will tell you it found 66 photos.  Click on the photos icon. 
 These are the 66 pages of a report.  The numbers correlate to the page #
 within the report.)
 
 Your feedback would be much appreciated.  Students are currently working on an
 interactive hobo jungle exhibit intended for all ages to be housed at the
 National Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa.  We would love your feedback to the
 following questions in order to enhance the jungle exhibit experience:
 
 What is the most important aspect of the jungle?
 
 Could you visually describe a typical hobo jungle camp?
 
 What are the different elements/components of the hobo jungle?
 
 What do you feel is the most important element of the jungle to reveal to
 children visiting the museum?
 
 What are the different events that happen in the jungle?
 
 Are there any stories or songs we can record to play back in an audio exhibit
 as part of the jungle?
 
 What is the mood/atmosphere like in the jungle?
 
 What objects does everyone bring with them to the jungle?
 
 Can you further explain the “transferring of ash” practice and the
 significance of the act?
 
 Diagrams of the jungle are welcome & can be sent either by mail or email to:
 
 bridgetb@iastate.edu
 
 Attention: Bridget Belkacemi
 Department of Landscape Architecture
 Iowa State University
 146 College of Design
 Ames, IA 50011
 
 Phone: 515 294 8937
 
 Thank you for your time.

My name is Greg Baumgardner. I live in Henderson, IL. just 3 miles north
of Galesburg, IL. on the BNSF.

Galesburg has long been celebrating Railroad Days in June. In the past,
one of the events was a gathering of hobos telling stories and singing
songs. The hobos were sponsored by artist Ron Hatch at his home at Knox
Station along the Santa Fe transcon east of Galesburg. I meet several of
the hobos during cookouts at Knox Station. Ron is no longer able to
sponsor the hobo jungle and they have stopped coming to Railroad days.

I am trying to bring the hobos back to Railroad Days. I would like to
sponsor the hobo jungle at my property in Henderson. We have plenty of
space for camping, areas for campfires and an above ground pool.

My problem (and hopefully this is where you can help) is that I have no
way to get in touch with the hobo community to let them know they have a
sponsor.

I do not recall the names of most of the hobos that  I met but I do
distinctly remember Grandpa Dudley and a song he sang about running over
possum and cooking it up in a pot.

I would greatly appreciate any help you could give in getting the word
out that Galesburg would like to have the hobos back at Railroad Days
this year and that they have a place to hang their hat while they are in
town.

Thank you,
Greg
 

From Jennifer Wilcox - NSA Cryptology Museum

Greetings friends and family,

As many of you know, I've been working on creating an exhibit at the National Cryptologic Museum for a long time now.  I had hoped it would've been completed six months ago, but it is finally in and done!  If you're ever out this way (Baltimore/Washington), stop in and see it.  It includes a working model HO railroad.  Many of the signs used by hobos have been incorporated into the model and there are push buttons to help you find them.  For example, a button might be labeled with a sign and its definition.  Pushing it will have a specific house in the model light up.  If you look around that house, you'll find the matching sign.  There's also a floor to ceiling image of a Depression Era farm house.  In the mailbox are markers and patrons can draw their own symbols on the farm house to leave their mark.  (I erase them every morning for a fresh start.)  The whole exhibit has proven to be a lot of fun and many folks start conversations with, "My grandmother used to have hobos come by her house…"  The kids just like watching the train go around and drawing on the farmhouse.

The attached link will take you to the short description and photo on the NSA website.  At the bottom of that link are two more that will send you to an article I wrote on the history of hobos and their signs and another to show samples of the signs.     It's a fairly short article (not the monograph I wrote for the cryptanalytic Bombe several years ago) so feel free to take a few minutes and read it.  I hope you enjoy it.  I certainly enjoyed researching the subject.

http://www.nsa.gov/museum/hobo_2007.cfm

JEN