The First Days and Weeks of the "Orchid Society"
(A scrapbook by Jim Bloom)

The earliest activities of the "orchid society," were publicized on the radio and written up in local newspapers. Many notes and newspaper clippings were brought together by James Bloom in a scrapbook covering the Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society during the period from June 1, 1951 through October 21, 1952.

This note was from day 2--June 1, 1951

The first plant table: June 18,1951
(day 19)

(It was easy to get a notice in a local newspaper.)
(day 16, 29 and 30)

(July 3, 1951)
(day 34)

(The Fort Lauderdale TIMES, October 6, 1951)

The plant table at the new meeting place, the Garden Center,
at Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, October 1951.

(from the Fort Lauderdale Daily News, November 15, 1951--"Nature's Jewels")

Dr. Machle, the orchid society's first president, and Mrs. Evelyn Edwards,
the wife of one of the founding members, with Don Reed of Miami.
(Atlantic Life, December 7, 1951)

For the years 1952 through 1956, the "orchid society" participated in the annual flower show
put on by the Federated Garden Clubs. In February of 1957, the "orchid society" staged its first independent show
at Atlantic Federal S and L, now the main branch of Bank Atlantic, on East Sunrise Blvd.
(from the Fort Lauderdale Daily News, March 1952)
 

(The balance of the clippings, in the scrapbook, were brief meeting notices, without pictures or details.)