Hodgson Collection. Prior to accessioning, the number 21 was printed in white ink on side of bowl. Note from Hodgson's Smoke Rings book: "On a weekend trip with the Johnsons we stopped at Rochester where I acted as judge at a state corn husking contest. This was about 1940. When I got out to go to work, it dawned upon me that not a single pipe could be found in pockets or car. Helen, Ed and Ethel were going back to town to do some shopping so I asked them to get me something to smoke. After the contest, which was held at the Insane Asylum farm, we resumed our journey, but no pipe was apparent. In La Crosse, Wisconsin, I was delegated to buy a steak for supper. While hunting for a butcher shop, I passed a pipe store and hastily selected a couple of briars. After supper I pulled out one of them and lit up, which brought on a deluge. Helen had found a corn cob and Ed donated No. 42 whose history will be described later. Ethel also had a contribution. It seems it was my birthday and I had forgotten that as well as a pipe." Robert E. Hodgson (1893-1968) was superintendent of the Southern Experiment Station from 1919 to 1960. He promoted modern agricultural methods in Waseca and throughout Minnesota. From 1948 to 1964, Hodgson wrote a column for The Farmer Magazine, and his column “Bob Hodgson Talks” appeared in more than one hundred rural Minnesota newspapers for over 20 years. Hodgson was a member of the Waseca County Historical Society, the Waseca County Horse Thief Detectives, The Boy Scouts and other organizations. Among his many interests were history, nature study and pipe collecting. During World War II, Hodgson wrote a once a month letter to members of Boy Scout Troop 85 who were serving in the armed forces all over the world. The letters were published in the Waseca Journal with separate copies printed and mailed to any Waseca serviceman who wished to receive them. Hodgson’s letters maintained the home contacts, helped men keep up on the locations of friends and provided morale-boosting communications for those far away from home.
