Hodgson Collection. Prior to accessioning, the number 8 was printed in brown ink on bowl. Smoke Rings Hodgson notes: "Dr. L.C. Burnett, USDA plant breeder at the Iowa Station called one muddy day to look at our oats rod rows which had just been cut. He wanted to see how his new oats (later named Tama) were doing up here. In the course of our pipe filling and emptying, he admired a squeeze type tobacco container I was using, so I gave him an extra. Then he went to his car and took a new pipe from the glove compartment. He said this was his special style and he bought them by the dozen to help his friends enjoy a real smoke. It was good and served for several years. This must have been about 1936 or 1938." 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.
