ephemera

Paper artifacts are vey satisfying to collect because they tell you a lot about their subject as well as their owner(s). The writing on a postcard, for example, tells you something about the sender -- and perhaps about the recipient -- in addition to providing information about a place pr thing.

Letters are also revealing about traditions, people, and places. Both letters and postcards can be frustraiting in their brevity, however, and often require a bit of sleuthing to determine what the game is and who the players are.Other sources of information and detail are pamphlets produced for, by, or about the College. But perhaps the most charming part of my collection is the scrapbooks that were put together by students.

I have two complete scrapbooks that originally belonged to a pair of sisters: Emma McCarroll 1908 and Marion McCarroll 1914. Several pages were already detached, and many items were hanging on by threads, so I have had to separate many of the pieces that were once in the same book. I've bought other scrapbook pages individually, so the charm of thumbing through the intact old book is missing. But the priceless pages are carefully preserved and are presented here for perpetual viewing.

Copyright © 2005 Jennifer K. Mathews. This site is not affiliated with Wellesley College.