Correspondence. Canine Commemorative Society. Best of the Best dog nomination form, 1996

The collection contains records of the club and breed history beginning with Dr. Hugh Mouat’s papers dating back 1940s. Mouat kept meticulous kennel records from the first Otterhound breeding program. The journals record detailed information on Mouat’s Otterhounds including: pedigrees, ownership records, import records, show records, recordings of each litter and notes on the health of each Otterhound. There is also an original copy of his 1963 pamphlet “How to Raise and Train an Otterhound."

The club administration materials include the secretary's files, which hold membership lists; various meeting minutes from 1985-1996; the codes of ethics; Illustrated Standard and related documents; English Otterhound Club, board, membership, general and presidential correspondence; National and Regional Specialty files; health surveys; and more. Further correspondence, dog show (National Specialties, A Matches, B Matches, local shows) and other subject files (such as financial record, health pedigrees, English OH Club relations, and voting results) are also present.

The print publications and ephemera includes books, such as a rare private printing of historic otter hunt photos, Otterhunting Memories ; show catalogs for most National Specialties between 1984 and 2005 as well as select Regional Specialties and local club shows; illustrated standards; clippings; distribution materials such as posters, stickers, and advertisements; and the club newsletters from 1971 to 2007 (“The Otterhound Club of America Bulletin” was published seasonally until it became a bimonthly publication in 1976. Around this time it also changed names to “The Otterhound Club of America Newsletter”, and then shortly thereafter to “The Voice of the Otterhound Club of America”, which remains its present name, published bimonthly).

The photographs and negatives in the collection date back to the 1940s. There are entire albums dedicated to Ch. Adriucha Zola's Priza UD (wh. 1969), a Utility dog in the the Otterhound Hall of Fame. There is a large assemblage of photographs of various Adriucha Otterhounds in an album entitled "Book on Otterhounds," which also contains early photographs of Dumfriesshire Kennels in Scotland. Another album is dedicated to the Otterhounds of Dr. Kweb, who renewed the tradition of the hunt in the English tradition by pursuing muskrats instead of otters; this album provides a glimpse of what an otter hunt may have looked like. Other folders hold photographs of Dr. Mouat and his Otterhounds and the Crufts Dog Show in 1988. There are also two albums dedicated to "Dorrie" and "Bunky", two Adriucha Otterhounds who have not yet been identified beyond their call names.

The video materials chronicle National Specialties beginning with the first show in 1981. Also present is coverage of other shows, and other Otterhound-related content, such as a Martha Stewart video about the breed.

The show ribbons and notable dogs materials consists of ribbons dated between 1934 and 1974, though some may be as late as 1980. Select ribbons were awarded from the club's National Specialties, and Morris and Essex and Westminster, but the bulk are from earlier, local shows. Envelopes in the collection addressed to Dr. H. B. Leonard from New York, indicate that many of the ribbons may have belonged to him. Further materials include pedigrees and export and sale certificates.