Agoo #1

I will certainly have images to post later this week of pieces I am working on now. BUT for now... I thought I would take the opportunity this evening to do a little musing on a topic which first appeared on this blog on March 27th (see older posts). I had procured at auction, Volume 8 of a series of books from the late 1800s documenting the names and numbers of registered Holstein cows (and bulls) across the country. I had never really thought about the signs that I had seen posted by farms for many years growing up that said "Registered Holsteins" with the big black and white cows shown on the sign.I have learned that EACH of these animals is named and assigned a registration number and meticulously recorded (in terms of parents, owners and short descriptions of markings in these books). The book that I have begins with the #2688 registered Holstein and continues for hundreds more. Anyway, I was more excited than I probably should have been when this afternoon I discovered that the #1 (yes, the VERY FIRST) registered Holstein in this country was raised in Peterboro, NY (some 20 miles from Utica). Her name... "Agoo". I absolutely love trivia like this. And it would have very likely never happened without my interest in collage and my purchase of that strange volume with beautiful engraved images of cows which I will no doubt use in up-coming collages. BTW, Peterboro was a MAJOR "depot" along the underground railroad in the mid-1800s. Enjoy!