Calico Bulletin! (EXTRA.) The best advertising medium in existence! Circulation…Several Copies. C. A. Lico, editor and proprietor. Price, . . . One Sense.

(Utica, NY. February, 1868). Folded calico square, approx. 11.25 x 6.25 inches, irregularly trimmed, with cutout toward the upper spine for hanging, attaching thread, etc. Minor discoloration and fraying around the edges, with bright red stripes and printed text still crisp. 

A curious and irresistible item with an element of theatrics. It was printed not for, but during a calico party hosted by the men of the Algo Nuevo Society to benefit the local orphan asylums and “Home for Aged Women.” Emphatically carrying out the theme, the event was fully decorated with calico, and the men wore matching calico collars and ties “to sacrifice personal appearance to charity.” Partygoers were initially given programs that were “printed on the coarsest brown paper and might have been mistaken for the title page of Wright’s Family Almanac.” Throughout the evening, three of the “Algos” were “seen prowling around printing offices with mysterious secrecy,” and “made their disclosure about 11 o'clock. They had prepared a Calico Bulletin—a miniature newspaper, neatly printed on calico, which contained a brief summary of local intelligence, some excellent ‘Leap Year’ advice and set forth the necessities of the inmates of the ‘Home for Aged Women.’” As a result, the “Sister Algos” rallied to sew forty articles of clothing distributed the next week to residents of the Home for Aged Women, the Protestant Orphan Asylum, and the Catholic Asylum (Utica Daily Observer, 18 Jan, 1868).

The Algo Nuevo Society was formed in January 1866 “to carry out the ‘letter and spirit’ of their Spanish title” (1/19/66). Active through around 1870, the social club organized picnics, sleigh rides, sociables, and masquerade balls. They were mentioned in the Observer about two dozen times from 1866-1870; and were last referenced in 1874: “once the brightest of the circles… the majority of the Algos are happy fathers and mothers now” (12/24/1874).

Of note—the last quip of the Bulletin refers to the Irish tradition of women proposing to men on leap day: “Girls, do you realize that this is leap year? Now, if we men have been backward in the performance of our duty, see that no minister loses a marriage fee through your fatal hesitation. Ask us, do! Ask us with that assurance with which you pleaded for the privilege to vote. We are to be got!”