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The Girl Scouts of America was established in 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low in the midst of the Progressive Era. The program grants young girls a variety of opportunities to explore their environments through educational projects, traditional ceremonies, and outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, and swimming. Though scouts are often involved in the planning of their trips and activities, to help them better earn their badges, "Mystery Trips" are planned solely by scout leaders as theme-oriented excursions revolving around local sites and history. Scouts can sign up for the trips based only off the knowledge of the themes and will not know what activities or sites they entail until they arrive at their destinations.

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Emporia is a town between Topeka and Wichita in eastern Kansas. In 1957, the town celebrated 100 years by hosting a centennial celebration. To promote the event, Centennial officials went to neighboring towns with a band and presented leaders of the town with various souvenirs including a shaving permit. The shaving permits were a product of the Brothers of the Brush who were a fundraising group that would show up in towns during times of celebrations. Participants were required to start the contest with a freshly shaven face and then not shave throughout the contest, usually months leading up to the celebration event. There were prizes for various categories, such as fastest growing and best mustache. If you didn’t participate in the event, you were encouraged to buy a pin that allowed you to shave and wear it in public. If you were caught without one, you could be subject to a voluntary fine. The proceeds from the fundraiser were given to the town. One local reporter, upon learning about the Brothers of the Brush descending upon the town’s celebration, opined if there were not better and more unique fundraising opportunities available. 

The week-long celebration in Emporia began with a parade of nearly 200 participants including the company band from nearby Fort Riley. Approximately 20,000 people attended the parade including Kansas Governor George Docking. The celebration also featured a Centennial Ball in which a Centennial Queen was crowned. A nightly pageant was also put on to celebrate Emporia’s past, present, and future.

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The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America is more commonly known as United Automobile Workers. It was founded in 1935 and fought for higher wages and pensions for auto workers in the United States and Canada. Today, members work in the automobile, healthcare, and higher education industries. 

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The term "Tonsils Out Club" appeared on pinback buttons and greeting cards in and around the mid-twentieth century. This was around the same time that tonsillectomy became the most commonly administered surgery in the United States. Institutions such as Methodist Hospital sometimes had special "Tonsils Out Club" pins made for patients, possibly as a means of advertising to other potential tonsillectomy patients.

Tonsillectomy is a procedure for the removal of the tonsils, or normally occurring tissue found near the opening to the throat. The surgery gained popularity in the years between 1915 and 1960, with physicians recommending tonsillectomy for everything from chronic sore throat to deafness and halitosis. The procedure's popularity peaked in 1959, when doctors in the US performed approximately 1.4 million tonsillectomies, mostly on children. Tonsillectomy lost popularity in the 1960s as evidence increasingly refuted the procedure's supposed benefits. Today, tonsillectomy is mostly recommended for the treatment of airway obstruction or chronic tonsillitis.

Illustration of a red fez bellow red text on a beige background.

Shriners International, commonly known as The Shriners, were founded in 1870 by a group of Freemasons who wanted to form a fraternity based on fun and fellowship. The fez was adopted as the official headgear and symbol for The Shriners in 1872. In 1919, the fraternity decided to commit themselves to a philanthropic cause and there are now 22 Shriners Hospitals for Children throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. Today they have more than 200 temples in North America, South America, Europe and Southeast Asia. 

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The Sunny Jim Club was a fan club for Sunny Jim's Radio Hour on WISN in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At that time, WISN served as a branch of the Wisconsin News, a major local paper. 

"Sunny Jim" was a pseudonym for J. Nash McCrea. At the time that the show aired, McCrea was also working as a sports writer for Wisconsin News and the Milwaukee Sentinel. Aside from his work in newspaper and radio, McCrea is more widely remembered as a champion bicyclist, who at the age of 17 entered the 1904 Olympic games in St. Louis, Missouri. McCrea did not win a medal, but he did earn the nickname "Crash McCrea" for his reckless riding habits. In his later years, McCrea became active in the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild, serving as both president and secretary.

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The Outer Drive Hero Drivers Club, or ODHDC, is a Chicago-area club dedicated to "the serious sports car driver who has become too damn serious". With no charter and no regular meetings, the club's only official gathering is its annual New Year's Day scavenger hunt, the Heroes' Happy Holiday Hangover Hassle, or HHHHH. Anyone who attends the event becomes a de facto member of the club.

At the 1961 event, participants were required to turn in receipts from five separate bars; after which awards were bestowed including dark glasses, a hangover kit, and a bar stool with a seat belt attached. The winning team drove a hearse and was required -in keeping with a tradition that remains to this day- to plan the next year's HHHHH.

More recent events appear to have been less alchohol-fueled and more trivia-oriented. Focusing on Chicago-area history and culture, event themes have included railroads, public libraries, and terracotta buildings.

Red illustration of a cootie on a white background

The Military Order of the Cootie (MOC) is a national honor degree membership association under the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).  Founded in 1920, the MOC provides social and entertainment programs to members of the VFW, and supports hospitals for veterans and their families. It aims to “Keep ‘em Smiling in Beds of White.” Membership in the MOC signifies exceptional service to the VFW and its affiliated programs. Notable members have included presidents Harry Truman and George H. W. Bush. 

The term “cootie” refers to the lice that afflicted many soldiers during World War I. These parasitic insects were credited to keeping soldiers’ heads down in the trenches. 

Blue and orange illustration of a person doing a sort of handstand on a skateboard reading a book on an orange background with blue text

"Rolling Readers" is the name for a variety of organizations with a shared mission to promote early literacy, typically for disadvantaged children. Most states participate in a Rolling Reader program that use "read alouds" or book giveaways to promote a love of reading. While each program varies, the overall mission is to promote literacy by engaging children and their families through fun activities.

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