CFA Foundation, Inc.

03/06/2026

It amazes me that, occasionally, we can still come across cat fancy artifacts that are well over 100 years old. We have just acquired this Canadian National Exhibition Dog & Cat Show pass.

Dated Wed, Aug 28 to Fri Sept 6, the year 1907 is shown on the back of the pass. That makes sense as the pass is signed by W.K. George, who was President of the CNE during that year.

What doesn't match is that the exhibition was called the Toronto Industrial Exhibition 1907, and the name was officially changed to the Canadian National Exhibition in 1912. Coincidentally, those same days/dates also occurred in 1912. But, a copy of the 1906 cat show catalog includes "Canadian National Exhibition" on the cover, so obviously they were using that name prior to 1912. A conundrum, indeed, and I'm inclined to believe the 1907 date is correct.

Whichever year is the correct one, 1907 or 1912, remains to be confirmed but we are delighted to add this CNE pass to our collection of memorabilia from past CNE shows in Canada.

Shows during this era were CFA shows produced by the Royal Canadian Cat Club. We will be adding a history of the CNE shows in Canada to The History Project web site (cat-o-pedia.org) in the coming days.

02/10/2026

Posted on February 10, 2026 by CFA President, Rich Mastin ...

I am pleased to announce that the CFA Executive Board has posthumously bestowed the Medal of Honor, CFA’s highest and most esteemed award, on Judge Emeritus Donald J. (Don) Williams for his outstanding contributions to the cat fancy.

Don, who passed away on November 17, 2025, was first elected to the CFA Board in 1977 and served almost continuously until 2004, including 14 years as CFA President. During his tenure as President, Don attended an organizational meeting of what would become the World Cat Congress, of which CFA is a founding member.

He was recently recognized for his 60 years of service as a CFA judge.

Don was dedicated to preserving the history of the cat fancy and was instrumental in the founding of the CFA Foundation. He joined the Foundation’s Board in 2006 and served as its President from 2018 until his passing.

The Medal of Honor will be presented to Don’s family at his memorial service in May 2026.

11/22/2025

The obituary for Donald J. Williams, CFA Foundation President. Our sincere condolences to his family.

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11/17/2025

It is with profound sadness that the CFA Foundation announces the passing of Don Williams, our current President and a founder of the organization. Well-known as a popular judge with great handling ability and always fair in his decisions, Don will be greatly missed by the members of the CFA Foundation Board, and the CFA family world-wide.

Don has been around the cat fancy forever it seems, at least as early as the photo below of him grooming a white Persian in 1957. He and his first wife shared the cattery name Sherdon and bred Persians. It didn’t hurt that his mother-in-law was Vi Schuh, of Skyway cattery .. well-known for its fabulous white Persians of the time. Upon the passing of Mrs. Schuh, Don inherited the Skyway cattery name and continued with that legacy.

He also shared the Squire cattery name with his second wife, the amazing Leta, breeding Persians, Exotics, Abyssinians and Singapura.

Don began judging for ACFA during the early 1960s and moved to the CFA Judging Program in 1965. We were all thrilled to see him in June at the Orlando annual meeting, where he received his award for 60 years as a CFA Judge.

In 1977, he was elected to the CFA Board of Directors, serving almost constantly until 2004. He was President of CFA from 1986-1994, and again from 1998-2004 – a total of 14 years leading CFA! In 1994, as CFA President, Don attended an organizational meeting of what would eventually become the World Cat Congress.

In 1990 Don, and a few close friends (Tom Dent, Vaughn Barber, Michael Brim, and Sy Howard) developed an interest in preserving cat fancy history, and a proposal to the CFA Board resulted in the Cat Fanciers’ Association Foundation (The CFA Foundation) being created as a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Don had maintained his interest in the Foundation and when it was reorganized in 2006, he became a Board member. He was the current President, being elected to that position in 2018. To his last day, he was a strong supporter of our mission to collect and preserve cat fancy history… and of the Feline Historical Museum in Alliance, Ohio.

Rest in peace, Don. Your guidance will be greatly missed.

11/14/2025

Mary Jo Mersol-Barg registered her Sol-Mer cattery name while still a teenager, and would often exhibit American Shorthairs of various colors other than the normal and expected tabby colors. These cats would form the basis of a cattery that would have great success in the show ring and, eventually, in CFA’s season end awards.

As she grew up and married, she and her husband, Michael, made a large impact on the breed with many grand champions and Distinguished Merit producers to their credit. The Sol-Mer line grew from a combination of Apache, Bushome, Rococco, Murjani, and Jo-Ni until it became distinctive enough that only Sol-Mer cats could be found in 3-generation pedigrees.

In 1996, the ultimate goal was reached – CFA’s Best Cat with GC, BW, NW Sol-Mer Sharif, a brown tabby male. Sharif was the son of two national winners, GC, NW Sol-Mer Sharaqa DM and GC, NW Sol-Mer Wild Flower of Briar-Mar DM. Sharif’s pedigree is a who’s-who of National Winners and Distinguished Merit cats, including GC, BW, NW Sol-Mer Wild Flower, DM; GC, NW Sol-Mer Sharaqa, DM; GC, NW Sol-Mer Centaurus, DM; and GC, NW Toraneko Don Juan of Sol-Mer, DM (who was exported to Japan).

Sol-Mer dominated the 1990s with brown tabbies in an era when color-bred silver tabbies had previously reigned supreme. It wasn’t unusual to find several Sol-Mer cats in CFA’s end of show season awards. The year Mary Jo stepped back from breeding and exhibiting, four Sol-Mer cats achieved National Winner awards. Furthermore, Sol-Mer achieved CFA’s highest honors for a patched tabby and a blue tabby as well, both females!

Because Mary Jo was so young when she started, many did not appreciate the 20 years of careful and wise planning that led to her eventual successes. Mary Jo firmly believed that “the barn must be built before it can be painted” and she carefully used backmassing and linebreeding along with judicious outcrosses to “build” the cat that met the standard as she interpreted it. She once stated that for years on arrival at the shows with her “other color” cats, the more seasoned breeders would laughingly exclaim, “Oh good, you’ve brought the points for us to win!”

Thank goodness she persevered since several catteries made use of her lovely bloodlines – Ars-Nova, Biamerikitty, Detente, Cyma, Grandcru, Heartnsoul, Karol, Kenipurr, Jimnet, Morinoo, MRomeo, Taz-N-Toonce, and Utagawa among others. Even those who weren’t so fortunate to get cats directly from her later sought and successfully line bred on the Sol-Mer bloodline. Mary Jo Mersol- Barg was truly a master breeder as well as an exhibitor extraordinaire!

- from "The American Shorthair" by Valerie Edwards, Karen Lawrence and Gayle Hand.

11/12/2025

Regretfully, the Feline Historical Museum will be closed temporarily, commencing November 12, 2025. We apologize for any convenience this closure may cause.

11/06/2025

‘Tiam O’Shian IV’ was born on August 15th, 1899. He was Sired by ‘Tiam O’Shian III’ and Dam was ‘Polyphema’, both well-known show cats at the time. ‘Tiam O’Shian’ was bred and owned by Mrs. Vyvyan, a dedicated breeder of Siamese and the Tiam O’Shian bloodline. Despite having 11 kittens along with second-generation progeny, his litter sister, ‘Ch. Eve’, held the responsibility for carrying the Tiam O’Shain bloodline. Her legacy shaped the Siamese breed we know and love today. Notable show wins of ‘Tiam O’Shian IV’ include Best Cat for which he won a Challenge Cup at the Sandy show, as well as the Breeder’s Cup and Challenge Trophy at the Crystal Palace Show, remarkably all in 1901. While 'Tiam O’Shian' never earned championship status, he was nonetheless still known as “The best Siamese male in England”.

10/30/2025

Lois Weston was an outstanding Persian breeder, producing 42 Grand Champions and 5 Grand Premiers between 1964-1987. Her passion for Persians began when she became the owner of her mother’s Persian cat. Sparking an interest in the breed, Lois would attend cat shows to study Persians. Her first purchase for her breeding program was CH Skyway’s Rajah of Simbelair, a copper-eyed white male born on April 4th, 1964, from Vi Schuh. Lois’s next purchase was GC Skyway’s G*i Doll of Simbelair, a copper-eyed white female born January 12th, 1965. By breeding Rajah x G*i Doll, their litter produced GC, NW Simbelair Aristocrat who was undefeated and had 46 Best Cats in a row, all while being Lois’s first litter! She also set the record for granding white cats in all three eye colors, GC. Simbelair Tiffany (an odd-eyed white), GC. Simbelair Felica (copper-eyed white) and GC. Simbelair Flash (blue-eyed white). Other notable felines bred by Lois include GC, NW Simbelair Fantastic and GC, NW Simbelair Azaraf.

10/24/2025

Don Pedro of Thorpe was an exceptional long-haired Sliver Tabby who became the standard for his breed as his coat and body proportions were the closest to ideal any long-haired Sliver Tabby achieved at that time. He was born on April 7th, 1901, and sired by Abdul Hamet of Dingley. His breeder was Miss Cope, and his owner was Mrs. Slingsby. Don Pedro acquired much fame as he was featured on the cover of “Our Cats” twice and appeared on postcards up until 1925.

10/16/2025

Gertrude E. Taylor was born January 30, 1890, in Syracuse, New York and passed on September 10, 1948. She was the editor and publisher for "The Cat Courier" (1919-1938) which she sold to "The Cat Gazette" in 1938. She held the title of CFA Vice-President in 1918, and from 1922-1927 and held CFA Presidency from 1928-1933. Her most notable achievement as CFA President includes creating the Certificate of Grand Championship in 1930.

10/09/2025

Elsie G. Hydon was born circa 1881 and died in 1964. It is estimated that she emigrated to the United States circa 1906 from England to New Jersey. She began breeding and exhibiting dogs and cats in 1908. Her Cattery name was Lavender, and her Kennel name was Bogota. She began judging for the Cat Fanciers’ Association in 1919. Miss Hydon was CFA’s Vice President in 1928-1932 and held the title of President for the Cat Fanciers’ Association during 1933-1950. Additionally, she was named Honorary President for Life in 1950. Her award-winning blue Persian males include GC Lavender Bendigo, CH Sapphire, GC Lavender Liberty, who held CFA Challenge Award Winner 1939 and GC NW Lavender Liberty Beau, who held CFA Cat of the Year in 1949-1950 and is the cat pictured below.