The collection is arranged by Seckatary Hawkins story title.
CGA.SHC.2014 : Randy Schulkers, September 2014
[identification of item], [Box Number/ Folder Number], Seckatary Hawkins Club Clippings and Proofs, SPEC.CGA.SHC, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, Ohio State University
Materials in this collection are available for use, but may be used in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum reading room only.
Pamela Kerr, April 2016
This collection contains newspaper comic strip clippings and proofs of the Seckatary Hawkins Club stories written by Robert F. Schulker, but published under the name of story's protagonist, Seckatary Hawkins. The character of Seckatary Hawkins is a fat boy with a cowlick in his hair, who records the daily minutes of club, detailing the adventures of a group of boys. The group of ten or so boys have their own clubhouse on a river bank, complete with a stove for heat, a telephone, and even an organ for required singing practice. In the stories, the club solves various mysteries and keeps the area around their clubhouse safe. Most stories take place on a river bank that is based on the author's familiarly with the Ohio River, Licking River and Kentucky River. The collection contains the following stories told in serialized form through comic strips:
Stonewall House Cuba The Red Runner Herman the Fiddler The Yellow Y The Gray Ghost Our Club Emperor's Sword The Red Hand The Red Castle Ching Toy Stoner's Boy Little Flower of the Sun The Moonight Host
Robert F. (Franc) Schulkers was born July 21, 1890 in Covington, Kentucky. Schulkers attended St. Joseph parochial grade school in Covington and St. Joseph High School (now Covington Catholic High School) before he moved on to studying architectural draftsmanship. He married Julia Buckley Darnell and the two began a family, who, at one point, lived in Cuba before returning to live in the Hyde Park area of Cincinnati. Schulkers is the author of the well-known Seckatary Hawkins children books. These books promoted ideals that Schulkers found very important: morality, decency, and honesty. The books led to the creation of the “Seckatary Hawkins Fair and Square” clubs. The members of these clubs promised to promote the ideals put forth in Schulker’s stories and, at their height, had a few million members and the club still exists. Although Schulker’s works aren’t as recognized today, they did leave a lasting impression on To Kill a Mockingbird’s author, Harper Lee; she included a quote from Schulker’s work The Gray Ghost at the end of her only novel. The Seckatary Hawkins books, however, are not published under Schulkers name, but instead the name of the protagonist. He died in Cincinnati on April 6, 1972.
Biography courstesy of Kenton County Public Library (Kentucky):
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