The Hoo-Hoos were founded in 1892 by a small group of men associated with the wood products industry. They wanted to form a fraternal organization that was both unconventional and unregimented. Unlike other lodges they were a lot more interested in having fun and tended to avoid the good works of other groups, though they did plant trees. Their original membership requirements, apart from some association with wood products, was white males over 21. Now, the racial standard is gone and the age requirement has been lowered to 18. I'm always surprised that fraternal organizations are still hanging on, though I suspect most will be gone within the next 50 years or so.
There's a photographers stamp on the back. "PHOTO BY Robertson and Fresh, TAMPA'S COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS, 504 E. Lafayette st., Tampa, Fla." William Vernon "Red" Robertson was the photographer while Harry Fresh was the lab man who processed the film and made the prints. They were in business from 1932 to 1960. The University of South Florida has a large collection of their negatives. Sadly, many of those negs have disintegrated because of high levels of acetic acid coupled with high humidity. The yellow tinge of these two photographs shows that Mr. Fresh showed little interest in an archival wash for either their negatives or their prints. To see the images in the USF collection, go to digital.lib.usf.edu/robertsonandfresh/all. Quite frankly, it's a lot easier just to go to Google and type in Robertson and Fresh photographers Tampa.
