Scrap Albums

In the previous chapter we wrote about old postal card albums. In this chapter we would like to describe scrap books. These can be of many varities. Many people make scrap books of recipes, others make scrap books of news events, facts of local history while some make up books of colored flowers from old seed catalogs.

I have been given two old scrap books to admire which were made more than seventyfive years ago. This one is rather unusual. It has hundreds of old time colored pictures all neatly cut from catalogs, magazines and I am certain many picture postcards. The pages are yellowed and brittle with age.

There are lots of colored advertisements of products no longer sold, and many we have never heard about. For instance, there is a mother giving her four children a bath in a wooden wash tub. The tub bears the advertisement "Higgin's German Laundry Soap is the best." On the same page is a green frog sitting on a toad stool pouring "Hoyt's German cologne" on a bouquet of flowers Also, a quaint little girl, it may portray Litte Red Riding Hood since she is wearing a red hood, is holding a bottle of C. Gilbert's patent "Glass Starch", made in Buffalo, N.Y. Next are two pictures of children dancing around a box of "Rumford Yeast Powder." On the bottom of the same page is a colorful Baltimore Oriole and two round pictures of dogs. On the opposite page is a card with a picture of Civil War Veterans, their bed rolls and muskets by their side. They have opened a box of corned beef for their meal. In each corner are two small cards showing a child peeking into a barrel at two puppies. The ad is "Brown's Iron Bitters, the best Tonic." Immediately above is a weird individual holding a sign "Try Prince Albert Cigarettes Excelled by None." Beside this is a small colored steam engine, made by "Frick & Co." This was the type that threashers and sawmill operators used sixty or more years ago. Going farther, we find pages filled with roses and several elfs riding on the backs of butterflies, a Court Jester in his red suit, and an old scene of cattle grazing in a meadow. Several pages contain a series of twelve album card pictures of distinguished artists. These cards had the advertisement of "Dr. Janye's Tonic Vermifuge" and "Carminiative Balsam", "J & P. Coats ThreadBest six cord cotton for Sewing Machines" illustrated a box of twelve colored varieties. Here is a little girl with a blue hat, waist ribbon and stockings in a swing.

No card album is complete without a Santa Claus. There is one which is most unusual. Instead of a red cap, he is adorned with a wreath of holly and red berries. He has a pine tree on his shoulder and over his arm is a string with a toy drum and horn. He also has a large wreath of holly under his arm. On the opposite side is a large 12 point elk and a lady with her hand on its head. The sign states "The Buckeye. "

As we turn another page we find several small cards from "Clarks O.N.T. thread" with nine small children on and around a large spool. In the lower corner is a beautiful card showing an Egyptian girl looking over the Nile River. This cut is from "Burtnetts Floral Hand Book." Beside this is a card picturing a young dancing girl with her hands in a fur muff. Opposite these pictures is a card with three children hitched to a large spool of "J & P Coats thread." A fourth child has the reins in his hand driving his chargers. All the children are wearing knee pants and long red, blue and red and white stockings. We also find two cut-outs of a lady holding a large bottle of "Reads Grand Dutchess Cologne." Under the one card is an 'ad' of an hour-glass blue corset which is filled with flowers, ferns and grain stalks. On the next page is also an 'ad' showing a small child opening a box. Inside the box is another hour-glass type blue corset with a little baby inside the corset. (I can't understand why any advertiser would place a child in a ladies corset. )

In the center of two adjoining pages are pictures of a three and four mast schooners. One is sailing the high seas while the other is in dock being loaded with barrels and boxes. In the center of two other pages are pasted cards of "Jas. S. Kirk & Co., Chicago, Ill., soap makers." One advertises "Mottled German." A little boy and girl are dancing and waving German flags. The other picture advertises "White Ceylon." A white polar bear is standing on a block of ice looking at two eskimo children. On the next page is a stationary engine in red, and a cut-out picture of a Bobolink perched on a rice stalk. Two odd pictures in the form of a palette has an 'ad' for hats, shoes and trunks. One shows a young lad holding a flag in front of a broken down cannon. Several pages further we found a card of a young boy holding a little frightened dog under his arm, and in his right hand he is holding a crayfish close to the dog's nose. Next we have a card asking you to use "Barkley's Anchor Roasted Coffee." A two-part card shows a little boy being led by the ear. He seems to be wet and dirty while on the other part shows a frog on a lilly pad. They are an 'ad' for "Trix" a breath perfume. Price-five and ten cents. As we look at the next page we see two cards on Jack Spratt and Mrs. Spratt. One shows Mr. Spratt so lean that he is about dead. The poem states "Jack Spratt could not get fat, his clothes were never clean. His appetite had left him quite, and he kept on getting lean. " The second shows Mr. Spratt sitting at a table with a roasted turkey. He is now fat and smiling. The poem now says "Mrs. Spratt tried this and that, from every foreign land. All came to naught, until she bought the 'Arm and Hammer Brand'."

The second album is not much different than the first One thing I failed to find, however is the name of the maker and original owner nor is there a date in either book. This is most unusual. The first page of this book is decorated in two corners with pansies cut from picture postcards. In the opposite corners are two old fashioned high top 14 button type shoes. One is brown, the other is blue. Both have roses in the tops instead of a shapely limb. (Showing a woman's shapely leg at that time was strictly uncouth.)

The next page has four dainty 4/2 x 3 inch cards. They have cut laced front tops. One center is round, two are oval and the other is square. Inside or under the lacy cover is a flower, a light house and a child. Tiny floral vases of flowers and other floral designs are pasted on and under the lace, making them very attractive.

Page after page has individual roses, carnations, daisies, birds, pansies and little children so delicately cut and pasted on the paper. Turning over several pages we see a set of twelve cards 3~/ZX2" with different floral designs in beautiful colors. They were issued by "LeDroit Dining Rooms," F street nw. The name of the city is not given, but we suspect this place was in Washington, D.C. Two sets of three smaller cards are also pasted here. On the opposite page are four cards 3~/2 x 2" with hands holding two small roses and lillies of the valley. Carefully lifting up one end, we see printed "New Port" series, 12 for 25 cents.

We found two amusing pictures. One shows a large red shoe with a mother, in her little cap and apron, applying the sole of her shoe to the bottom of a child. The other shows a mother and 16 small children in a shoe. The following is printed "There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children she knew not what to do. Some she had nursed, and some bottle fed, but those raised on 'Nestle's Food' came out farahead." Next is a baby looking out of a basket. "Tarrants Aperient Seltzer" is on the basket. Three designs of shoes in color shows one shoe on a sled being pulled by a dog. The driver is seated on the instep strap while his lady friend is seated in the heel, all bundled up. Her hands are inserted in her fur muff. The second shoe, on wheels is being pulled by a pair of peacocks and the past is a shoe used as a boat hitched to a swan.

One cut-out covers an entire page. A little girl, in her red and brown dress and red ribbons in her hair is seated in her little chair. Opposite her small chair is her dog eating his dinner from a piate which she is holding up for him. His front paws are resting on a little table.

The only date we found was on a back of a card which advertised "Brown's Iron Bitters", a true tonic. This announced that the winnner of a contest, which ended November 1, 1883, was awarded to a man in New Lisbon, Ohio. Another announcement on this card told of a special prize would be sent to the person who mailed the largest number of these cards to the company. A large amount of the printing is lost because this card came loose from the page. Pieces of the glued paper is stuck on the lettering. On the front of this card the viewer is challenged to find a mother and child, loving couple, Henry Irvin's face, hand holding a bouquet, peacock, dove, lion, city of Baltimore, dog, kite, frog, fish and swan, in the maze of boats anchored in a harbor. Here is a card with a tiny elf standing on a water plant holding a hoop for little frogs to leap through the circle. Another card shows a young maid standing beside a water fountain holding a bottle of "genuine Murray & Lanman Florida Water-the richest of all perfumes." Over on another page we find a little girl on a seashore. She has her small sand bucket and shovel. Her two-piece bathing suit is in the form of a dress and her little lace bottomed pantaloons reach to her knees.

There are literally hundreds of embossed pictures pasted on the many pages but time and space do not permit me to describe each and every one. It would take several hours to look and study all pictures and cut-outs.

If these books could talk, they would have quite a story to tell. One thing is certain, the originator of these scrap books spent hours and days cutting and pasting them so carefully and artistically on every page. Maybe there is a message here and we are too ignorant to see it.

Thanks for exploring these books with me. I hope you enjoyed them.