E. M. White Catalog
From Chapter 5: Wood-and-Canvas Canoes
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From Chapter 5: Wood-and-Canvas Canoes
E. M. White Company catalog cover from 1915 showing a courting canoe.
From Chapter 5: Wood-and-Canvas Canoes
This 16-foot “Comfort Craft” courting canoe was built by the Peterborough Canoe Company in 1904. Also known as the “Girling Canoe,” it came equipped with lockers under the side decks for a phonograph and records. The front seat faced the stern of the canoe.
From Chapter 5: Wood-and-Canvas Canoes
Cover from sheet music for “In My Canoe,” a song written by Bobby Jones and Chick Story, published by O. E. Story in 1913.
From Chapter 5: Wood-and-Canvas Canoes
Courting on Grand Canal in Belle Isle Park in the Detroit River, with Detroit, Michigan, on one side and Windsor, Ontario, on the other, ca. 1900. Note the Victrola mounted in the canoe in the foreground.
From Chapter 5: Wood-and-Canvas Canoes
A wood-and-canvas courting canoe built by R. C. Robinson with mahogany extended decks. The forward thwart served only as a backrest for the woman, who sat facing her man in the stern. The long decks were handsome and pushed the couple closer together.
From Chapter 5: Wood-and-Canvas Canoes
On July 12, 1919, hundreds of canoeists saluted “The Star Spangled Banner” during a band concert at the Riverside Recreation Grounds on the Charles River in Weston, Massachusetts.
From Chapter 5: Wood-and-Canvas Canoes
The Charles River at Newton, Massachusetts became one of the most popular waterways for “canoedling” among young people during the early twentieth century.
From Chapter 5: Wood-and-Canvas Canoes
Early postcards documented the scandalous “canoedling” craze that took place on lakes and rivers throughout the Midwest and Eastern United States.
From Chapter 5: Wood-and-Canvas Canoes
Music publishers capitalized on the popularity of courting canoes in the 1920s with songs like “While We Drift Along” by Harry D. Squires.