Bowl of Rice Party
date: label: date made
content: ca 1940
notes: label: Description
content: This envelope comes from the philanthropic efforts in the small community of Sault Ste. Marie, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, to provide for humanitarian relief for people in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Led by Chinese American communities in San Francisco and New York City, communities across the country raised relief funds through Bowl of Rice Party events in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Fundraisers included large public events, such as parades, and modest meals at home, with money donated from what families had saved from their food budget. This envelope was found among the belongings of Sault Ste. Marie residents Azarie (Izzy) Victor and Jennie Belle Menard, and they may have participated in the Bowl of Rice Party efforts in their community. The Menards were devout Catholics with Native American roots, and Izzy Menard was particularly active civically.
label: Description
content: As Wendy James, the Menards’ granddaughter, explained, “Sault Ste. Marie was founded in 1668, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in America. It was settled by the Ojibwe people, then occupied by France, Britain, and finally the US since 1783. It's home to the Sault Locks, where freighters from around the world pass through with cargo, so I guess it's possible that Chinese ships passed through, but I think that's doubtful. I just looked at the 2010 Census and it says the population was 0.9% Asian. It's mostly White, but 17.7% Native American as am I - on my Dad's side. My grandparents, especially my grandfather, were very civic-minded, so it doesn't really surprise me that he would be engaged in some kind of philanthropic activity. He did a lot for the city - besides being a safety engineer for the local electric utility, he did safety presentations for the schools, served on the city's safety commission, set up the town's voting machines for every election, was a volunteer fireman, and countless other things. They actually named a day for him - August 1 is "Izzy Menard Day" in the Sault.
label: Description
content: In general, it's a pretty conservative, traditional and caring community where neighbors look out for one another. But I am a bit surprised to see this type of fundraiser. Yet I also recall some kind of local historical event in town when I was a kid where the hotels were all booked up and the chamber of commerce put out a request for townspeople to open their home to tourists. And everyone did. We had strangers staying in our home. So it's that kind of place.”
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Michigan
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Philanthropy
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Wendy M. James
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2022.0115.1
label: accession number
content: 2022.0115
label: catalog number
content: 2022.0115.1
objectType: label: Object Name
content: envelope
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7.4 cm x 13.3 cm x .01 cm; 2 29/32 in x 5 1/4 in x in