Dorothy Abraham kept valentines, paper napkins and the plastic cellophane from a sweetheart’s box of chocolates. She saved ticket stubs from football games, school concerts and “Stunt Day” at her school. She collected autographs, telegrams, invitations and calling cards, and pasted in the portraits of each of her classmates and teachers. Included here too are the results from her driving test, a piece of school chalk and a sample of her expert shorthand. But what is most compelling are the many pages of letters, each of them folded neatly, one next to the other, with the addressee side faced down. The envelopes, like paper cocoons, are gently positioned alongside other saved matter, making the page look like an unusual experiment in origami.
09.12.08 Comments (4)
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I was wondering if Dorothy Abraham was affected by the great flood of 1927? Did she write anything about it in her scrapbook?
An interesting question, and I'm afraid the answer is no. Like many young girls who kept scrapbooks, Dorothy Abraham wrote about things that mattered to her more directly. It's a notable omission though, and reminds me of another scrapbook I will post soon about a prominent Boston women's scrapbook from 1912 that makes no mention of the sinking of the Titanic.
I'm struck by the idea that a life seemed capturable through its small artifacts, the people actually had the time to notate their lives using these visual cues. Today so much experience is virtual that few have tangible remnants of their day to day experiences. will memories be lost without these visual momentos? Andrea Barnet
posted on 09.16.08 by
Andy Barnet
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