A thick scrapbook filled with about four hundred vibrant trade cards, lithographs and other pieces of ephemera, most of it from Alabama and Texas. Most prominently, the album contains a number of exceptionally scarce invitations for masked balls, mystic fetes and other elaborate Mardi Gras celebrations held by secret societies in Mobile, Alabama.

Though New Orleans is the city most commonly associated with the holiday, the first organized Mardi Gras celebration in the country took place in Mobile, Alabama, in 1703, when the city was the capital of French Louisiana. Beginning around the 1830s, Mardi Gras and other Carnival celebrations in Mobile were formally organized by secret societies known as “Mystics.” Besides putting on extravagant costume parades through downtown Mobile, Mystic societies celebrate with formal masquerade balls. While Carnival season traditionally starts at the end of Christmas, the Mobile Mardi Gras season starts in November. Some of these society balls are held on New Years or related to social debutante season. These affairs were traditionally always invitation only and the lavishisly-printed, dramatically-illustrated examples in the book represent invitations to balls held in the 1870s and 80s.

There are four invitations for the Order of Myths. Founded in 1867, it is the second oldest mystic society to celebrate Mardi Gras and it is the oldest continuously parading mystic society in Mobile. Their emblem is a representation of Folly chasing Death around a broken column of life, which can be seen on three of the four invitations. The fourth OOM invitation shows, among other eccentric images, a bust of Shakespeare. Shakespeare is a recurring figure in Carnival iconography, in part Carnival season begins on the holiday of Twelfth Night.

There are 1878 and 1882 invitations for the Infant Mystics, another of Mobile’s oldest mystic societies as well as a large calendar, dated 1881. The emblem for the Infant Mystics consists of a knight representing “gentlemanly behavior, a cat which signifies friskiness and fun, and an emblem recognizing memory or tradition. On the present calendar, this emblem is represented by an anthropomorphic elephant dressed in a tunic, holding a ceremonial axe.

Also present is an invitation for a ball celebrating the 52nd anniversary of The Cowbellion De Rakin Society. The Cowbellions are credited with being the first masked society to “parade” when, in 1831, they rang in the new year with rakes, hoes and shovels pilfered from a local hardware store. In 1840, they were the first to introduce horse-drawn floats, with a parade entitled “Heathen Gods and Goddesses.” The Cowbellions had a reputation for being so selective not even their sons were allowed to join.

There is also an invitation for the Striker’s Independent Society, the oldest continually active mystic society in the state. This invitation shows a fancy-looking anthropomorphic goat with an umbrella and a pair of spectacles. There is also an 1883 invitation from the Knights of Revelry.

Other interesting ephemera present in the album includes four photograms; several trade cards from Texas businesses, including one for the Carter and Gibson Printing Co.; and much more.