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Traditionally, travelers would bake bread over a jungle fire in a #10 tin can. Today, many bakeries have used the hobo figure for business reasons, including the naming of businesses.

Quoted from the can label: "Hobo Soup was 'born' in the restless, creative mind of Lem Kaercher, a small-town newspaper publisher from Ortonville, Minnesota. In 1953, Lem went into the 'jungles' of Ortonville in search of a feature story on Mr. Hobo,…

A comb was indispensable for the hobo to neaten hair & beard to appear well-groomed during his job hunting. The hobo beard oil (from HoboCompany, Hutto, TX) goes with this display, plus any other grooming aides in the collection.

The Hobo Company…

This an actual end of a ship’s hawser line – the heavy cables that anchored ships. Frying' Plan Jack tied this sample to show how a real monkey’s fist was used aboard ship. There would be a rock or piece of metal inside the rope (heavy enough that…

Very detailed, hand carved, holes were hand-drilled. Could be used as a match holder – very utilitarian. Sabot is a French word from which sabotage is derived. Wobblies carved wooden shoes to symbolize their disdain for rich captains of industry…

The Hobo Medicine Co. became located in Shreveport, LA as early as November 14, 1914, and Beaumont, Texas by January 1, 1923.

A 1938 letter to a Texas physician from the American Medical Association Bureau of Investigation: "Government chemists…

From the book "The Hobo Style". Items found in the National Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa.

From the book "The Hobo Style". Items found in the National Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa. Made by Helen Pechota.

From the book "The Hobo Style". Items found in the National Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa. Doll made by Helen Pechota.