Editing Maine Coon (section)

=== Cat shows and popularity ===
[[File:Cosey the Maine Coon cat, 1895.jpg|thumb|upright|Cosey, winner of the first cat show in the United States, 1895]]
[[File:Фото кунов.jpg|thumb|Three adult cats]]
The first mention of Maine Coon cats in a literary work was in 1861, in [[Frances Simpson]]'s ''The Book of the Cat'' (1903). F.R. Pierce, who owned several Maine Coons, wrote a chapter about the breed.<ref name="The Book of the Cat">{{cite book |last=Simpson |first=Frances |title=Chapter 28: Maine Cats |publisher=Cassell & Company, Limited |year=1903 |pages=325–331 |url=http://www.russianblue.us/Book_of_the_Cat/TBOC_Ch28_Maine_Cats.pdf |access-date=27 October 2008 |archive-date=4 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104172932/http://russianblue.us/Book_of_the_Cat/TBOC_Ch28_Maine_Cats.pdf |url-status=live }} ''The Book of the Cat''</ref> During the late 1860s, farmers located in Maine told stories about their cats and held the "Maine State Champion Coon Cat" contest at the local [[Skowhegan, Maine|Skowhegan]] Fair.<ref name=CFA>{{cite web |last=Frew |first=Gail |title=Breed Article: America's First Show Cat – The Maine Coon Cat |publisher=[[Cat Fanciers' Association]] |url=https://cfa.org/maine-coon-cat-article/|access-date=20 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606195949/http://www.cfa.org/client/articlemaine.aspx |archive-date=6 June 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1895, a dozen Maine Coons were entered into a show in [[Boston]]. On 8 May 1895, the first North American cat show was hosted at [[Madison Square Garden (1890)|Madison Square Garden]] in [[New York City]]. A female Maine Coon brown tabby, named Cosey, was entered into the show. Owned by Mrs. Fred Brown, Cosey won the silver collar and medal and was named Best in Show.{{r|CFA}} The silver collar was purchased by the [[Cat Fanciers' Association]] (CFA) Foundation with the help of a donation from the National Capital Cat Show. The collar is housed at the CFA Central Office in the Jean Baker Rose Memorial Library.{{r|CFA}}

In the early 20th century, the Maine Coon's popularity began to decline with the introduction of other long-haired breeds, such as the [[Persian (cat)|Persian]], which originated in the [[Middle East]]. The last recorded win by a Maine Coon in a national cat show for over 40 years was in 1911 at a show in [[Portland, Oregon]]. The breed was rarely seen after that. The decline was so severe that the breed was declared extinct in the 1950s, although this declaration was considered to be exaggerated and reported prematurely at the time.{{by whom|date=January 2022}} The Central Maine Cat Club (CMCC) was created in the early 1950s by Ethylin Whittemore, Alta Smith, and Ruby Dyer in an attempt to increase the popularity of the Maine Coon. For 11 years, the CMCC held cat shows and hosted exhibitions of photographs of the breed and is noted for creating the first written [[breed standard]]s for the Maine Coon.{{r|CFA}}

The Maine Coon was denied provisional breed status—one of the three steps required for a breed not yet recognized by the CFA to be able to compete in championship competitions<ref name="AP">{{cite web |title=Cat Breed Directory: New or Experimental Breeds |work=[[Animal Planet]] |publisher=[[Discovery Communications]] |url=http://animal.discovery.com/guides/cats/selector/newbreeds.html |access-date=15 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613084027/http://animal.discovery.com/guides/cats/selector/newbreeds.html }}</ref>—by the CFA three times, which led to the formation of the Maine Coon Cat Club in 1973. The breed was accepted by the CFA under provisional status in May 1975, and was approved for championship status in May 1976. The next couple of decades saw a rise in the popularity of the Maine Coon, with championship victories and an increase in national rankings. In 1985, the state of Maine announced that the breed would be named the official state cat.<ref name="State">{{cite web |title=Title&nbsp;1, §&nbsp;217: State Cat |publisher=Maine State Legislature |url=http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/1/title1sec217.html |access-date=7 December 2008 |quote=The state cat shall be the Maine Coon cat. |archive-date=17 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117121128/http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/1/title1sec217.html |url-status=live }}</ref>