Item #3718 [Significant Archive on the Early Workings of the Ozark Motorcycle Club, with Photographs, Manuscript Minutes, Ephemera, and More, Documenting the Club's Activities, Its Racist Membership Policies, and Its Support of Organized Labor]. Missouri, Ozark Motorcycle Club.
[Significant Archive on the Early Workings of the Ozark Motorcycle Club, with Photographs, Manuscript Minutes, Ephemera, and More, Documenting the Club's Activities, Its Racist Membership Policies, and Its Support of Organized Labor]
[Significant Archive on the Early Workings of the Ozark Motorcycle Club, with Photographs, Manuscript Minutes, Ephemera, and More, Documenting the Club's Activities, Its Racist Membership Policies, and Its Support of Organized Labor]
[Significant Archive on the Early Workings of the Ozark Motorcycle Club, with Photographs, Manuscript Minutes, Ephemera, and More, Documenting the Club's Activities, Its Racist Membership Policies, and Its Support of Organized Labor]
[Significant Archive on the Early Workings of the Ozark Motorcycle Club, with Photographs, Manuscript Minutes, Ephemera, and More, Documenting the Club's Activities, Its Racist Membership Policies, and Its Support of Organized Labor]

[Significant Archive on the Early Workings of the Ozark Motorcycle Club, with Photographs, Manuscript Minutes, Ephemera, and More, Documenting the Club's Activities, Its Racist Membership Policies, and Its Support of Organized Labor]

St. Louis: 1926-1940. Three binders (one modern, two contemporary) comprised of meeting minutes, club documents, correspondence, flyers, photographs, and assorted ephemera. Occasional toning and wear, some paper items with more significant wear, one larger photograph split in the middle, but contents in generally nice condition. Some noticeable wear and tear to both older binders. Good. Item #3718

A unique assemblage of material related to the Ozark Motorcycle Club, an early motorcycle social club and organizer of races and other motorcycle-related activities in St. Louis, Missouri. The contents of the present archive include meeting minutes, the club's constitution and by-laws, signed membership agreements, correspondence from other motorcycle organizations such as the American Motorcycle Association, flyers, newsletters, photographs, certificates for competitions, and more. The archive also includes several personal items belonging to early club members named Joseph, Herman, and Michael "Spud" Verderber, club members and brothers, one of whom very likely retained the present collection. On a letter written on Ozark Motorcycle Club stationery, in the masthead, Mike Verderber is listed as the secretary of the club while Joe Verderber is identified as the Ride Captain of the organization.

The Ozark Motorcycle Club was founded in May 1927 in St. Louis, Missouri, with twelve charter members. The club was reorganized in August 1935. At the head of the applicant and member agreement for the reorganized club, the purpose is stated as follows: "The Ozark Motorcycle Club is, and was, organized to promote Good-Fellowship among motorcycle riders and good-will with the Public to elevate motorcycling to a level equal to that of other sports and organizations, to promote motorcycle activities and social gatherings and to acquire such properties as may best serve the interests of all concerned." The meeting minutes present here document gatherings in 1928, 1929, and later in 1937, with scattered minutes for meetings into 1940. The archive does not record any reasoning for why activities seem to have ceased for a time in the early 1930s, if they in fact did.

Outside the present archive, little is known about the Ozark Motorcycle Club, but the club was probably like other motorcycle clubs throughout the United States - a mostly social, all white, male-oriented club with a common interest in motorcycles.  The earliest motorcycle clubs formed in the first decade of the 20th century, but it was not until after World War II that clubs proliferated in the United States.  Despite the social aspect of the Ozark club (picnics, group rides, dances, etc.) the archive reveals an underlying tension among the riders.  Minutes show they debated whether gambling should be allowed in their clubhouse (“don’t want to have the club get a bad name because the naborhood [sic] is taking a bit of interest in the club).” There are also complaints of “outlaw” hill rides affecting their membership in the American Motorcycle Association and a move to create the Mid-West Motorcycle Association - “A Real 100% Riders’ Association,” in 1937 which would sanction “Outlaw” activities.

There is also real evidence that the club was led by active pro-labor forces and even perhaps socialist members. An undated (but most likely 1938) letter on club stationery is sent to the Conference for Peace and Unity between the A.F of L. and the C.I.O with the lead, “Dear Comrads” [sic], going on to accuse the A.F. of L. of turning its backs on ‘the real labor movement.’  Another letter from Joseph Verderber is addressed to President Roosevelt in March 1942 with the subject line: “Will certain individuals in Congress (agents of fascism and selfish interests) be allowed to sabotage labor gains, and jeopardize democracy and the war effort?” There is also a scathing letter from Mike Vanderber (Joseph’s brother?) arguing for stronger unions and that the working class needs to learn that the real enemies are capitalism (fascism or democratic). On a different note, telling but not surprising, is Article 2 of the club’s constitution, which begins “Prospects for membership, and active members shall be White-Male riders and owners of motorcycles, - they may bring their wives or such persons as they see fit to club affairs.” This latter evidence falls more in line with traditional motorcycle clubs in early-to-midcentury America, whose membership was composed mainly of white, male, racist, misogynistic, self-proclaimed freedom lovers. The unusual aspect, at least by modern standards, is their support of organized labor.

The collection also contains about thirty snapshots showing hill climbs, track racing, hare and hound chases, and several classic images of Indian motorcycles, many of them annotated in ink. One of the more informative photographs shows the Ozark club in October 1926, posed together outside the Ivory Cycle Shop, with each member of the club identified in ink within the image. The annotated images depict the club itself and its activities, but also includes an earlier image of the Verderber boys posed with their mother, further cementing the assertion that the present archive was preserved by a member of that family. In addition to the smaller photographs, there are several larger format photos, a series of negatives, duplicate flyers for a Motorcycle Rodeo at Sylvan Beach near St. Louis sponsored by the club, tickets for dances, business cards, two pit passes for a 1937 hill climb, two newsletters, paperwork from the American Motorcycle Association, and more. 

An outstanding collection of archival material documenting a long-lost, pre-World War II St. Louis motorcycle club with a somewhat surprising and certainly unusual socialistic perspective.

Price: $4,500.00