For the good of all, do not destroy the birds.
It was 1915. WWI had begun, and in the United States, birds were being killed by the millions. For their feathers, for sport, for the simple reason that no one with any real influence had thought to say otherwise.
In partnership with the U.S Department of Agriculture, the Church & Dwight Company of New York began slipping small illustrated cards into boxes of Arm & Hammer baking soda. They were modest things, less than the size of a playing card, and printed in color at a time when color printing was still something of a marvel. Each one bore a bird.
Not an exotic, rare, or strange bird. A useful one.
There are many blights which war is known to bring, and food shortages are among the most common. The birds featured on the card were chosen due to their knack for supporting food production. Birds like the quail, the meadowlark, and the cardinal. Birds that ate insects, weed seeds, and rodents. Birds that helped keep the soil fertilized.
Luckily, it was in 1885 that the USDA created an Office of Economic Ornithology, specifically to study which birds were most helpful to farmers. The cards weren't just charming; they were one of the earliest environmental public awareness campaigns.
Across ten series, spanning more than two decades, the company released over 150 unique cards. The artwork was produced largely by Mary Emily Eaton, a botanical illustrator from the UK who had come to New York to work for the Botanical Garden.
Over a hundred years later, the cards are a beautiful reminder of the good that a united effort can do.
The birds, too, are still out there.
Useful Birds of America Prints
Bring the collection home The full Useful Birds of America 1st, 2nd and 3rd series have been restored and assembled into prints by Second Draft Company, available now in the Signal Post shop. Choose an individual series, the digital download to print yourself, or the complete mixed set. Each one carries the same artwork that traveled in matchbox and soda packages a century ago. [Visit the shop →]
