Verna Leonard II
Hyannis, MA
1931
Hyannis, MA
1931
Verna Leonard was a passionate diarist, whose two-volume scrapbook is organized sequentially over the course of two years. Such devotion to chronology may explain the incongruous placement of a racy movie notice next to a weekly washing list. Yet the unintended ironies here are poignant: with three heavy-duty union suits to her one negligée, one imagines that Verna’s day-to-day life as a college girl was fairly chaste, lacking both “indiscretion” and “disgrace.” All the more reason she and her chums might have thrilled to the notion of a film offering a glimpse — however brief — of immorality.
09.02.09 Comments (0) digg | del.ic.io.us | reddit
09.02.09 Comments (0) digg | del.ic.io.us | reddit
A New Book by Jessica HelfandComing this fall from Yale University Press
A gorgeous visual history of American scrapbooks and their evolution over two hundred years. 242 pages, 425 photographs printed in full color.
Combining pictures, words, and a wealth of personal ephemera, scrapbook makers preserve on the pages of their books a moment, a day, or a lifetime. Highly subjective, rich in emotional meaning, the scrapbook is a unique and often quirky form of expression in which a person gathers and arranges meaningful materias to create a personal narrative. This richly illustrated book is the first to focus close attention on the history of American scrapbooks—their origins, their makers, their diverse forms, the reasons for their popularity, and their place in American cultural life.
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The New York Times June 8, 2008
In this Op-Ed page SUMMERSCAPES, Jessica Helfand reflects on the fascinating "Stunt" Book kept by a young California debutante in the summer of 1920.
more news ->
came from a distinguished family in Natchitoches, Louisiana. She kept a detailed scrapbook of her adventures that profiles life in the south during the 1920s.
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lydia blanchard website ->