Searching out the soul behind the badge.

[cyclingday]

This odyssey started about five years ago, with a headbadge that popped up on eBay.
It was found in a drawer during an estate clean out.
There was no context to its origins, just an odd looking badge that I had never seen before.
It was interesting so I bought it.
I asked around, but it seemed to create more questions than answers.
What era and model bike did it come from?
We knew it was made by Arnold Schwinn & Company of Chicago, but that was about it.
The original founding name of the Schwinn bicycle empire was The World.
So this badge featured a woman standing on the World with her hands to her hips and a bird sitting on her head, with the words, "I Will" across her waist.
I understood the significance of the World, but what was with the bird on her head, and what was she willing to do?

 

[cyclingday]

Fortunately, I was able to acquire an 1898 catalog from The World Cycles, and one question seemed to get answered.
Arnold Schwinn&Co. had two lines of models that year. The World and The Chicago.
Ok, I thought this badge may have been from the late 1800s, so was this from the lower level Chicago line?
Possibly!

 

[cyclingday]

 

[cyclingday]

I still wondered what the actual bicycle that this badge may have come from looked like, to my surprise an outstanding example of an 1898 model 22, The World, Roadster was found by the Cabes own StingrayJoe in another estate clean out.
You've gotta love those estate clean outs!
Joes bike was a mystery as well, but it's a little easier to solve when you've got the whole bike sitting in front of you.
Fortunately, Joe made the bike available for sale and it was purchased by one of our own right here on the Cabe and is in very good hands.
That bicycle can be viewed by searching out the thread by Shawn Sweeny aka Freqman1
Under the heading, Oldest Known Schwinn in a private collection.
It's a magnificent bicycle, and I encourage you to check it out.

 

[bulldog1935]

here's your answer:

https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/.../chicago_s_publicartellsworthkellysiwill.html

I Will, the title of artist Ellsworth Kelly’s Minimalist sculpture, was the motto adopted by Chicagoans after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The hollow stainless steel column, rising from the ground at the fire’s northernmost end, is dedicated to the determination of Chicagoans to overcome the destruction of the fire and rebuild the city. The shape of the column correlates to the forms of skyscrapers to which the city of Chicago “gave birth.” Characteristic of Kelly’s work, I Will gives the impression of a flat, two-dimensional image despite its sculptural nature.

 

[cyclingday]

Like your name states, you are a bulldog and you've bull dogged your way into my story.
Be patient my friend.

So, now I knew what the bike probably looked like, and had a catalog that told me, that Arnold Schwinn & Co. had a model in 1898 called the Chicago.
Did they make that model in any other year besides 1898?
I don't know.
The 1899 catalog doesn't list it, and I have not seen a 1897 catalog.
With some of those questions answered, I still wondered what was with woman standing on the World with the bird on her head and what was she willing to do?

 

[cyclingday]

Bulldog is only partially correct.
The "I Will" on our lady of the badge does have a tie in with the great Chicago Fire of 1871. Remember the story about Mrs. O'Leary's cow? Well, the plot is much deeper than the Bulldog revealed.
The mystery of the "I Will" lady on the badge remained until two days ago when an interesting star shaped ornament commemorating the 1933 Chicago Worlds fair was posted here on the Cabe.
That peaked the interest of the Cabes own badge collector extraordinaire, Kim Smith aka aasmitty.
We had discussed the badge and its meaning before, but had not really sluethed anything out until that bronze star with the words " I Will" popped up on the Cabe.

 

[cyclingday]

Kim started fishing around and quickly came up with images from the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair with a woman with a bird on her head and the words "I Will" emblazoned across her forehead.
We were puzzled, because although we knew that we were on to something, we had always thought the headbadge was from a much earlier time than 1933.
The slogan for the 1933 exposition was, " a century of progress"
So, while I was digging back farther to see what I could find Kim was searching on his end to see what he could find.
One guy in California and the other guy in Oklahoma with nothing better to do than search for the soul behind the headbadge.

 

[cyclingday]

Kim came up with a nugget of information that explained it all.

 

[cyclingday]

Here's the headbadge that started this quest and here is the original drawing by Charles Holloway entered for the competition to find a mascot for the Chicago/Columbian Exposition in 1893.
I think you can see where the imagery for the badge came from.
I always wondered why her arm looked broken and her breasts looked funny on the badge.
Or why she had a bird on her head, and what was she willing to do?
Well, unbeknownst to me, she was a Goddess wearing a breast plate with a hatchet in her hand, with the will to rise up like the Phoenix on her head from the ashes of the great fire that had destroyed her city some twenty years before.

Thanks, to Kim Smith aka aasmitty
I now have some explaination to the soul behind the badge.
Great work, my friend!