🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Very unusual brass pin

[Bates]

I found this on my property in central Georgia a couple years ago . I've been trying to date it or get any info on it since then. I know it is a badge that was worn by the kids that sold newspapers on the corners. The metal work has a Victorian look to it. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Did quite a bit of searching, and honestly can't come up with another example of an Atlanta Newsboy badge or buckle.

Like a license badge for a taxi, maybe it is a license from the city to sell the newspapers?

 

[pepperj]

Did quite a bit of searching, and honestly can't come up with another example of an Atlanta Newsboy badge or buckle.

Like a license badge for a taxi, maybe it is a license from the city to sell the newspapers?

Could it be for a reporter?
News boy badge is a top shelf recovery

 

[releventchair]

The why of badges may be due to the evolving child labor concerns.

collection: newsboy badge​

[“Among the most determined opponents of the child labor amendment [to the Constitution] are the newspaper publishers. The newspapers have always enjoyed a cheap circulation system, based on child labor. The publishers successfully resisted amendments to their code strengthening the provisions regulating child labor in the sale and delivery of papers. These additions to the code would have set a 14-year minimum for newsboys, an 18-year minimum for girls, with, an exemption in favor of boys of 12 already employed. They would have forbidden work before 6 a.m. and late in the evening for boys under 16; and required badges issued by a public agency under the U. S. Department of Labor for children in the newspaper trade.]

New in the collection: newsboy badge – NC Miscellany

 

[Red-Coat]

Interesting find.

The quotes below in italics are from the U.S. Department of Labor’s survey “Child Workers on City Streets” by Nettie P. McGill. There are detailed accounts of the conditions under which ‘newsboys’ worked in four cities covered by the survey, including Atlanta, Georgia and comparisons to other surveys undertaken elsewhere. The report notes that: “Fifty years or more ago newsboys and other street workers were believed to be either waifs and strays or half orphans whose attempts to support themselves and their widowed mothers by such work as selling papers, blacking boots, or playing a violin on street corners made them the object of pity and the subject of romance” and that the 1920 census indicated there were 20,513 newsboys between 10 and 16 years of age (and probably at least double that number in reality).

From the report:

It’s not stated when the requirement for these newsboys to have permits and wear badges first began but the requirement in Atlanta was repealed in August 1927, so that would seem to be the latest possible date for your badge.

LAWS AND ORDINANCES1 REGULATING THE WORK OF CHILDREN IN STREET TRADES
[Details of the laws and ordinances summarized below are given in Children’s Bureau Chart No. 15, Laws and Ordinances Regulating Street Work.]
In the following summary the age first given is the minimum age fixed by the law or ordinance for engaging in the specified occupations. The occupations listed in the paragraph relating to minimum age, limited by the exemptions there listed, are unless otherwise specified those to which all the provisions of the law or ordinance apply. The word “ parent” is used to cover parent, guardian, or custodian. Only the person specifically authorized to issue the permit or badge is given in the Summary, but the regulation usually permits him to designate some other person to act as his deputy.
GEORGIA
No specific street trades law.
Atlanta:
An ordinance formerly in effect in Atlanta was repealed in August, 1927. This ordinance fixed a minimum age of 12 for boys and 16 for girls engaging in the sale of newspapers or periodicals on streets.
Any person engaging in this occupation was required to obtain a permit and badge issued by the mayor, and in case of boys between 12 and 14 the issuing officer had to be satisfied that child was 12 or over and was of normal development and physically able to undertake intended work. Night work was prohibited under 14 between 8.30 p.m. and 5 a.m.


You can read it in full at the link below (downloadable pdf):
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files...188_cbdol_1928.pdf?utm_source=direct_download

 

[vhs07]

Very, very cool find!

 

[Bates]

Interesting find.

The quotes below in italics are from the U.S. Department of Labor’s survey “Child Workers on City Streets” by Nettie P. McGill. There are detailed accounts of the conditions under which ‘newsboys’ worked in four cities covered by the survey, including Atlanta, Georgia and comparisons to other surveys undertaken elsewhere. The report notes that: “Fifty years or more ago newsboys and other street workers were believed to be either waifs and strays or half orphans whose attempts to support themselves and their widowed mothers by such work as selling papers, blacking boots, or playing a violin on street corners made them the object of pity and the subject of romance” and that the 1920 census indicated there were 20,513 newsboys between 10 and 16 years of age (and probably at least double that number in reality).

From the report:
View attachment 2210997

It’s not stated when the requirement for these newsboys to have permits and wear badges first began but the requirement in Atlanta was repealed in August 1927, so that would seem to be the latest possible date for your badge.

LAWS AND ORDINANCES1 REGULATING THE WORK OF CHILDREN IN STREET TRADES
[Details of the laws and ordinances summarized below are given in Children’s Bureau Chart No. 15, Laws and Ordinances Regulating Street Work.]
In the following summary the age first given is the minimum age fixed by the law or ordinance for engaging in the specified occupations. The occupations listed in the paragraph relating to minimum age, limited by the exemptions there listed, are unless otherwise specified those to which all the provisions of the law or ordinance apply. The word “ parent” is used to cover parent, guardian, or custodian. Only the person specifically authorized to issue the permit or badge is given in the Summary, but the regulation usually permits him to designate some other person to act as his deputy.
GEORGIA
No specific street trades law.
Atlanta:
An ordinance formerly in effect in Atlanta was repealed in August, 1927. This ordinance fixed a minimum age of 12 for boys and 16 for girls engaging in the sale of newspapers or periodicals on streets.
Any person engaging in this occupation was required to obtain a permit and badge issued by the mayor, and in case of boys between 12 and 14 the issuing officer had to be satisfied that child was 12 or over and was of normal development and physically able to undertake intended work. Night work was prohibited under 14 between 8.30 p.m. and 5 a.m.


You can read it in full at the link below (downloadable pdf):
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files...188_cbdol_1928.pdf?utm_source=direct_download

Trust me I have read everything about the Newsboys in their fight with the Union however this does not mean that they weren't issued pens by the newspaper companies maybe I don't know even though not required to I think I see a date on it but it's very hard to see I know the first numbers are 18 I'll try to add a picture of just the part that shows a date I just want the truth whatever it is I've had this thing a while and it's driven me crazy

 

[Red-Coat]

Trust me I have read everything about the Newsboys in their fight with the Union however this does not mean that they weren't issued pens by the newspaper companies maybe I don't know even though not required to I think I see a date on it but it's very hard to see I know the first numbers are 18 I'll try to add a picture of just the part that shows a date I just want the truth whatever it is I've had this thing a while and it's driven me crazy

I can also see a date beginning 18?? (I believe 1865) to the right of the phoenix and the word ‘RESURGENS; above. That’s because it’s the seal of Atlanta, which has the dates 1847 to the left and 1865 to the right… like this.

Those dates respectively represent the year the city was incorporated and its rebuilding after the end of the Civil War (hence the word ‘Resurgens’) but not the actual date of your badge. As I said, it’s documented that Atlanta had legislation requiring newsboys to wear a badge relating to their permit to work but I could find no record of when it was introduced… only that it was repealed in 1927.

If you contact the city's open records custodian for the Department of Law, she may be able check the archives and tell you:

 

[Bates]

Trust me I have read everything about the Newsboys in their fight with the Union however this does not mean that they weren't issued pens by the newspaper companies maybe I don't know even though not required to I think I see a date on it but it's very hard to see I know the first numbers are 18 I'll try to add a picture of just the part that shows a date I just want the truth whatever it is I've had this thing a while and it's driven me crazy

 

[Bates]

I can also see a date beginning 18?? (I believe 1865) to the right of the phoenix and the word ‘RESURGENS; above. That’s because it’s the seal of Atlanta, which has the dates 1847 to the left and 1865 to the right… like this.

View attachment 2211398

Those dates respectively represent the year the city was incorporated and its rebuilding after the end of the Civil War (hence the word ‘Resurgens’) but not the actual date of your badge. As I said, it’s documented that Atlanta had legislation requiring newsboys to wear a badge relating to their permit to work but I could find no record of when it was introduced… only that it was repealed in 1927.

If you contact the city's open records custodian for the Department of Law, she may be able check the archives and tell you:

View attachment 2211401

You are right . I googled the seal about 100 times. Never came up🙄 I get lost down rabbit holes researching my finds. I'll start trying to ID a button end up reading an entire book on the origin of folk pottery.

 

[Mackaydon]

Yes, as Red-Coat mentioned in part: The City Seal of Atlanta depicts the mythological bird, the Phoenix, who is cyclically reborn from ashes. This symbolizes the rebuilding of the city after it was burned and destroyed by war. The date depicted, 1847, is the date Atlanta was first incorporated. The date 1865 signifies the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the new Atlanta. Resurgens is Latin for “rising again.”
Don in SoCal.

 

[Mackaydon]

The City of Atlanta's seal, featuring a phoenix rising from flames, was first adopted in 1887.
Don in SoCal

 

[tahomatom]

I found this on my property in central Georgia a couple years ago . I've been trying to date it or get any info on it since then. I know it is a badge that was worn by the kids that sold newspapers on the corners. The metal work has a Victorian look to it. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Very cool find and had no idea paper boys were regulated. I delivered the Sacramento Bee for years, “80 paper route”. Made about 30 bucks a month in the early 60,s. After buying two tires/tubes every month I finally figured out I wasn’t making too much money.
I did buy my first gun with my route money. Model 33 Remington for 12 bucks. Still got it but wore the firing pin out😢