Hodgson Collection. Prior to accessioning, the number 90 was printed in white ink on side. Smoke Rings Hodgson notes: "Bob Anderson tells me that this relic from Haiti is probably over 500 years old. The basis for this claim is that the features are Mongolian rather than Negroid. There were Indians on the island when Columbus landed, but the Spaniards soon found they made poor slaves and so killed them all and imported Negroes. Bob smuggled it out of the country, along with the three stone relics. The two smooth ones were used in the Voodoo religious rites. The carved piece is also probably Indian and very old. It was probably regarded as an Idol. Where will it be in another 500 years?" 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.
