Re: Earliest documented use of designation 'cormorant'???????

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2018/12/24 14:05:00

Bud Juneau's article in the Fall 1974 issue of the The Cormorant identifies late 1938, in the 1939 Data Book, as the first known reference to the "bird" ornament as a cormorant. This agrees with the information Don presented just above.

However, a letter to the editor in the following (Spring 1975) issue of The Cormorant by Jack Triplett identifies a PMCC document titled "Price Information on the New Packard Cars" and bearing the imprint of the De Pugh Motor Company of Lancaster PA and the date of February 1932 and it lists by specific name the "Cormorant" radiator mascot at $20 and the "deluxe" ornament (the much-loved donut pusher) at $10. So it would seem, since the ornament was introduced for 1932, it was a cormorant from the get-go, at least in some documents; that leaves the question when did it become a pelican? The 1934 Accessory Catalog called it a pelican, I don't have that document for 1933.

Those in the pelican camp do have a bragging point for whatever that's worth; the bird feeding it's brood in the Packard family crest is a pelican.