antedating of 'baby shower' (1911)

[J. Eulenberg]

You'll notice that this baby shower was given post-birth.  I believe that
many in those days felt it bad luck to have a shower before the baby was
born, and this is still true among certain groups (my son's Scottish
teacher, for example; some Jews).

Julia Niebuhr Eulenberg <eulenbrg at u.washington.edu>

On Thu, 1 Jan 2004, Sam Clements wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Sam Clements <sclements at NEO.RR.COM>
> Subject:      antedating of 'baby shower' (1911)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From the appeals list of the OED, who wanted earlier than 1937.
>
> From the Indiana Evening Gazette(Indiana, PA), April 17, 1911, page 1,
> column 2:
>
> <The ladies of the Baptist church gave a surprise "baby shower" in honor of
> Edwin Wendsor, the new son of Mr. and Mrs. B. D. McMillen. at their
> home.....>
>
> Sam Clements
>