The Fateful Summer of 1918: Clues from a Notebook

         It all began so hopefully, with a little stenographer’s notebook. On the first page, Ima wrote, “Summer 1918.” She had many things on her mind: Long before she became a noted collector of early American art and antiques and gave her home, Bayou Bend, to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Ima Hogg was searching out antiques. On the first page of her notebook, under “Summer 1918” is a list of 14 names and addresses of dealers in New York. In Mechanicsville, NY, she made a note about an “oxen wagon double chair.” 

         Antiques were not her only interest that summer. The Houston Symphony, which she had helped to found in 1913, was never far from her thoughts. She had been elected president of that organization in 1917, and she planned to do some research on her travels. A sample page of her notebook:

        

         Chamber of Commerce--relationship various cities--

         Organization of orchestra--

         How many men?

         Day or night?

         How financed?

         Average pay by rehearsal?

         Average pay by salary per week?

And so on. It promised to be a pleasant and useful summer vacation.

        

         But as the notebook shows, something happened to darken that summer forever.