LibGuides: Considering the Past: Topics in M.C. History: Scrapbooks and Photo Albums

Scrapbooks and Photo Albums

In the Archives, located in Carlyle Campbell Library, are housed several dozen scrapbooks and photograph books compiled by students, classes, departments, organizations, and faculty related to Meredith College. The oldest scrapbooks date from the early 1900s and they continue up to the most recent graduating and reunion classes. Such items can be incredibly interesting and informative as they provide not only content, but also context relevant to the creator. Storing the scrapbooks “as is,” with the maker’s inscriptions and the content in its original order preserves the maker’s experiences, intent and feelings. Unfortunately, given the complexity of their contents, with every page revealing something new, they can be difficult to display satisfactorily to the public.

In addition, scrapbooks are notoriously difficult to conserve given the diverse materials that make them up, including paper, leather, photographs, plastic and sometimes small artifacts – all held together with glue, tape and string. To give them the best possible chance of preservation, scrapbooks are stored with their pages separated with archival tissue paper, and are stored in acid-free boxes.

For descriptions of the scrapbooks and other albums held in the Archives, see https://infotogo.meredith.edu/c.php?g=1375268&p=10168153

Scrapbooks and Photo Albums

Ruth Cook's scrapbook from 1912.

Two pages from Vera Milton's photo album. On the left is a student wearing a knee-length white dress and holding a bouquet of flowers in front of a 2 level porch. On the right page are two photos. At the top are girls in middy blouses amd dark skirts seated on the porch of a rustic cabin. At the bottom, a cluster of girls sit on the same porch eating dinner from their laps. front of a building is

Two pages from Vera Milton's 1921-1925 photo album, which she has helpfully labeled in white pencil. On the left page, on the left side of the photograph, Vera wrote, "Joe in her recital frock." and on the right, "Big Sis!" Vera Pearl Milton graduated in 1925 and Joscelyn Cox in 1923.

At the top of the right page, Milton wrote, "Senior camping trip '23", in the middle left, "Resting, and at the bottom left, "Eating."

We also have Vera Milton's scrapbook.

Two pages from Vera Milton's scrapbook with an invitation to a reception, a typed list - possibly the questions or answers to a game, a menu for a 1924 banquet, a place card decoarated with a fairy and an invitation to the banquet.

Two pages from Vera Milton's 1921-1925 scrapbook. In her four years in college, Vera collected programs, invitations, letters, party favors, song lyrics, and cartoons, among many ephemera. Such artifacts provide a more personal picture of college life. The pages have been separated with acid-free tissue paper to protect the contents.