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| Front Cover |
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| Back Cover |
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| J. M. Schanel - March 4, 1894 |
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In my rummaging through old treasures (with the encouragement of friend Casey) I came across an old autograph book that belong to my grandfather. Going by the date written on the first page he would have been a little over a month past his twenty-third birthday. He and grandmother were married on January 24 of that same year and I was trying to deduce if there was a special event that prompted this particular autograph book.
Some research on the subject of autograph books in general indicates that on many occasions they would serve as a guest book, a written records of friends coming and going. This book spans a little over a year in time, except for one entry written years later in 1905 by my mother age nine at the time. I chuckled as it reminded me of the time I wrote an entry into my own parents Guest Book, making note "I had a wonderful time and enjoyed my stay".
Here are just a few of the pages from this 1894 treasure, I love the handwriting style, the prose and even the artistic embellishments that were included with the entries.
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| Eda Muskat |
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| Selena Severson |
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| Jas. Ayward |
Sadly I don't think the scribblings that today's kids leave on their Facebook pages will be quite as enchanting a hundred years from today, but I could be wrong. These treasured old autograph books have value beyond the sentimental one, they are now becoming yet another valuable tool for researchers to use in collecting historical data on those who composed them.
Annie! I have the same type of autograph book from the same period, about 10 years later, 1895-1905. It even has the same sayings like the "Put on your specs" etc. Isn't the cursive writing exquisite? I think it was called the Palmer Method and I excelled at it as a child, though now i'm pretty much a hen scratcher when I hand write things. I've done a piece with the pages of my autograph book-the book was pie-slice shaped, and difficult to fit into my preferred square/grid formats. Thanks for posting these! I'll put up a scan of my piece laster today.
ReplyDeleteOH ANNIE, SEE WHAT I STARTED. HOW GRAND. CASEY HAS THREE NEW FRIENDS IN HIS LIFE. YOU, MARE AND KATHY [KATIE].
ReplyDeleteLOVE THE ABOVE.
GRANNY
I, too, love the handwriting that they used back then. That and their writing style is a such a far cry from the horrid "texting" that these kids employ nowadays. Alas. . .
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your comment on my Julia blog! I'm really glad to have found yours as well.
I was surprised to see an entry in your grandfather's autograph book by my great aunt Selena Severson! We have her autograph book also and it's online at http://blackenedroots.com/blog/selena-seversons-autograph-book/ . I wonder if your grandfather wrote in hers? What was the name he might have signed with? Did he live in Madison, WI?
ReplyDeleteHow interesting is that, wow. My grandfather lived in Black Earth, WI. His name was Joseph Matthew Schanel and he was born in 1871. I assume that he must have had the nickname of Josie when he was young, but I never recall anyone in the family calling his by that name. My mother was born in Black Earth as well in 1896. A few years later they moved to Iowa and then on to California when my mom was in her early teens.
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