Hobo Graffiti Ephemera

I recently ran across a newly published book entitled “Mostly True: The Story of Bozo Texino” written by Bill Daniel.  Daniel began some 25 years ago by researching railcar graffiti tags along with the transient hobo communities and rail worker fraternities that created much of that unwelcome artwork.   Through his travels he documented the neglected art form first with black-and-white photography, and later on film. He took to the rails, riding freight cars with the old-timers and looking on as a new generation of train-hoppers began assuming the hobo mantle, bringing their own aerosol aesthetic along for the ride.

In 2006 he compiled sixteen years of footage, shot mostly from moving railcars, into a film entitled Who Is Bozo Texino?  Bozo Texino apparently was a fellow named J.H. McKinley, an early-20th-century trainman stationed in Laredo, Texas best known for his widespread railroad graffiti.

Mostly True: The Story of Bozo Texino is what Daniel calls the “paper-based ephemera” of his quarter-century exploration.  The book carries the date of April 1908 as well as Vol. 19, No. 7 and the subtitle “The West’s Most Popular Hobo Graffiti Magazine”.  However, searching Amazon.com we find that it was published in April of 2008 and is in fact Daniel’s first book.. and that of course Volumes 1-18 never existed… in fact there is no indication that any hobo graffiti magazine ever existed at all.  As the title says it’s “mostly true”.

Putting all that aside, we find that the contents of the book includes Daniel’s collection of antique railway advertisements, letters to the editor alleged to be from the railroad hobos, a recipe for a cocktail called the Hobo’s Wife, historical musings, interviews with rail riders, newspaper clippings, a poem about freight graffiti, handwritten testimonials, napkin maps, hobo signs, sketches, doodles, diary entries, cartoons, pencil rubbings of water-tank carvings, and lots and lots of photos of hobo graffiti.  Stuff that you and I call “Ephemera“.

While I have not yet put my hands on a copy of this book.. I have ordered one from the publisher – Microcosm Publishing. If the book is as good as the hype, I have a feeling it will be yet another enjoyable read.

If you have an interest in railway ephemera, I’d suggest you head on over to Microcosm Publishing yourself and have a look. By the way, there are numerous other interesting titles available at this independent publisher and distributor based in Bloomington, IN. You might just find others that pique your interest.

I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the Encore it deserves.