A Gift of Ephemera - Replicated Antique Christmas Cards

As I sat in a class on antiques earlier this fall, the instructor showed us a replicated artifact. A question about the motivation for making copies of historical items ensued and over the length of my 6-week course the subject of copies was re-visited over and over again. At one point, I raised my hand to give my two-cents as a history professional with an alternate perspective. We are all aware of forgeries, recognizing the desire for some to dupe professionals or to con eager buyers of materials to make a buck off of them. Museums, libraries and archives often run into objects of questionable authenticity. (Off the top of my head I can think of at least two very recent inquiries into the authenticity of found Picasso drawings and Ansel Adams photographs.) However, I was realizing that the people interested in antiques were seeming to consider all replications as "forgeries." I had never really thought about this before this time.  Replications are not always created with malicious intent and can be a boon to historical institutions that wish to share what they have. Yes, of course, cultural heritage institutions re-create and sell items to make a little money in the process, but there is no design on passing them off as the real thing.

The original item shown in the class was a kitchen aid from the 18th century. (Unfortunately, my full memory of the object itself is faulty so I'll make no pretense to state exactly what the item was, but as I remember it it was some kind of stone trivet or pan.) The "forgery" looked to me like something I would pick up in a museum gift shop. The instructor told us that often such items are made in China and flood the market with the intention of duping prospective collectors of a popular item. The popularity of specific items ebbs and flows, so the U.S. market could be flooded with different items that make their way into the antique world and float around for ages.  So this all got me wondering, how often do the items that museums create for their gift shops fool people who think they are the "real McCoy."

Above are antique "replica" images with full disclosure intact on the front of the item. Though I'm pretty sure that no one would confuse this with the real thing, in light of my antiques class I am glad that it is blatantly put out there. This is a booklet that was given to me by my friend Regina as an early Christmas present. (She was so excited to give it to me that she couldn't wait and her enthusiasm, as always, was infectious.) The booklet  includes 6 pages of perforated and replicated cards. Each postcards says "Merrimack Publishing Company, N.Y...Printed in Hong Kong. REPLICA OF ANTIQUE ORIGINAL." They REALLY want to make sure that you know this is not the real item, but there is no mention of where the real items are located. 

A quick Internet search of "Merrimack Publishing" did not yield detailed information about the company itself, but the search did reveal that most of their items were selling in out of print bookstores. Items included replicated ephemera similar to mine, reproduced children's and history books. The word "Replica" appeared over and over. I also did a quick business search through my local library's databases to no avail. I am still left wondering where the originals of my replications are housed. I will probably trot to my local library later to see what I can dig up in traditional sources.

Ephemera is a wonderful gift that can be quite meaningful. The historic images in my item are lovely. Should I mind that they are not original? Perhaps not, but I would love my item better with a history and if I find out more about the publishing company that might be good enough for me. If I can find the location of the original items, that would be even better, but I'm not sure how much time I will devote to that task... It is interesting to see the old-fashioned images that are really flaring up my Christmas spirit and the generosity of my friend in thinking of me when she purchased these makes them extra special. Though I don't get the excited feeling I generally have when I touch something old and can dream about the people who touched it before me, there is certainly much to appreciate in this replicated historical item. My daughter will certainly admire the cherubs and Santa when I show this to her. The replica will be a useful tool to teach children about archives...I just wish that I hadn't seen one perforated card from this book advertised online for 9 dollars. I am left with my torn antique class feeling all over again

A Gift of Ephemera and a Little Research

It's the gift giving season and my friends are being quite thoughtful...

A few weeks ago, my friend April mentioned some "antique" cards she had. She purchased them as a teen because she thought they were pretty. She's carted them around to new homes with her for years. She's wondered about their age, thought about them little, and thought perhaps I would put them to better use. I jumped at the chance to add these items to my collection of archives and ephemera. Thanks April!

The first thing I wanted to do was to find the age on the items, so I could at least give my thoughtful "gifter" that information in return for her generosity. This set is lovely and complete, including birth announcements, envelopes (with glue bleeding through seams from age, composition, and deterioration), and the original box. I first looked up "Baby Batiste" on the Internet since this is what is written on the box cover. Dead end. I then noticed in little words on the side "Hobby Stationers Inc." I decided to pursue this route and came up empty handed with an Internet search. However, right below the company name is written, "Colorado Spring Colo." I used the Internet to locate a library in Colorado Springs. I requested any information the librarians could find about the company. Within a day, Sandy of the Special Collections at the Pikes Peak Library had pulled three articles for me. According to the first article, Hobby Stationers came to Colorado Springs from Kansas City in 1946. This told me that my stationery was made after that date. The second article told me that the company were the "largest manufacturers of humorous and novel stationery in the country," so I know these are not unusual and are more likely a typical sample of stationery from 1940s-1970s -- a perfect specimen to share with students who take my "Preserving Memories" classes. The final article showed me the new home of the stationery company as it appeared in 1947 and included photos of workers creating their stationery. What a lovely bit of history to go with the original item! Thank you Sandy for providing the wonderful information so quickly, proving once again that librarians and archivists are efficient, hard working, and a valuable resource!

Later this week on the ArchivesInfo blog..."A Gift of Ephemera - Replicated Antique Christmas Cards" (from my friend Regina)

"A Fire in My Belly" - Culture in Context

There is a story in the news this week that really has me thinking and has me troubled. It is not a new story, but it this is another chapter in an ongoing saga concerning: 1. What is art? 2. What cultural collections and programs should the federal government support? And most fundamentally 3. What is the role of a cultural institution?

The National Portrait Gallery recently removed the video "A Fire in My Belly" from their exhibit, "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture," after complaints by the Catholic League and members of Congress who claimed it was sacrileges. According to the Washington Post, they object to "Homoerotic images" and refer to the video that includes ants crawling over Jesus on a crucifix "hate speech." According to National Portrait Gallery Director Martin Sullivan,"A Fire in My Belly" is a video that depicts the suffering of AIDS victims.

After watching "A Fire in My Belly", I am struck by the emotion it captures. There is a lot to take in here and I will have to watch it a few times to interpret everything. I also do not want to re-write my art history thesis and bore you to death in the process, but these are the things that struck me most:

1. In addition to images of Jesus, the video also shows two halves of bread being sewn together. This imagery is reminiscent of that of Frida Kahlo, an accepted great Mexican artist who created multiple self-portraits of herself broken and stitched after an accident that left her in pain for most of her life. The inclusion of this can be taken to symbolize a feeling of being broken or un-whole.

2. The artist also includes images relating to the Mexican celebration "Day of the Dead," further tying him to the Kahlo school and exploring notions of dying. Death symbols appear over and over -- hollowed pale dead faces with empty eye sockets are startling and poignant. Images that make us think of pain include lots of blood as the artist struggles with what members of his community must endure in the present and what they may find in their future. He struggles with the body as a shell, showing cleaned carcasses of meat that juxtapose against the warm bodies, active suffering, and more disturbing images of death.

3. Bugs do not only appear crawling on crucified Jesus, but also on skulls and candles. A cockroach appears belly up later in the film. I remember that I have heard that this bug will survive even a nuclear war and will long outlive my species, which is shown going up in a fire-y ball of earth at the end of the video. To me the bugs symbolize the slow creeping of disease and helplessness.

4. We are reminded of the artist's sexuality, which was once blamed for this new "plague" and which he shows us through the image of a man pulling down his pants and masturbating. Again, the artist is providing a blunt look at his world. I am disturbed, but reminded that this is his point of view not mine. He challenges me to look and to feel his pain.

5. Music accompanies the video and it is deeply disturbing. The word "unclean" and quotes from the Bible are reiterated. I wonder if the artist is struggling with who he is and what is expected of him. I do not immediately jump to the conclusion that he is angry with those who condemn him, though this may be part of what he feels. The theme of cleanliness appears in the imagery too with purifying fire and hand washing scenes. I wonder if he feels unclean or has been told he is unclean or perhaps both.

I am left considering the artist's emotions. He is taking in the pain around him and trying to communicate the horror he is experiencing. He is watching his friends die in pain. They are objectified. He is confused. Even Jesus (who I see as a figure of goodness and compassion whose appearance here can be interpreted on many levels) is helpless in the face of the grim killer of AIDS, just as the artist must have felt. I am left wondering if the artist himself was a religious man. I could think of nothing more poignant to capture the horror of AIDS than showing something I hold dear in a disturbing way. I want to add that there is nothing in this video to indicate the artist's religious beliefs. (In the Puritan era, imagery of the human figure and immortality was considered sacrileges. We find the depiction of both acceptable today. The acceptability of the display of certain imagery changes over time and not everyone within a community prescribes to the same point of view. The choice of imagery does not indicate a religious persuasion one way or another.)

So, is this art? I give it an emphatic and unquestionable YES! Art is not something that I have to like. It is something that challenges me, that makes me think. Art is not in the eye of the beholder, beauty is. If this video did not make you think, than you were not trying to think when you watched it. Art is a means of communication. You must try to listen to what the artist is telling you and open your mind beyond your own experiences. Think about another person's communities and ideals and learn from them. You do not have to agree with their point of view.

Should the federal government support this kind of art? The federal government is not in the business of deciding what is art and what is not art. Our government supports the continuance of our culture as Americans. The things that we create that convey our experiences as human beings allow our culture to continue. We can not stifle the voices that are beyond our experience or that are different from our own and still function effectively as a nation, especially as a nation that says it believes in freedom. All of our experiences together form a tapestry that is the United States.

Finally, that leads us to the role of the cultural institution. The repositories that care for our culture have a prime missive to encourage discussion of diverse topics related to humanity and the world around us. Cultural heritage institutions, Such as the National Portrait Gallery, use their collections to encourage dialogue by starting the conversation with exhibits and programming. (As uncomfortable as it might make us, sickness, death, self-loathing, doubt, fear, hatred, confusion, and marginalization are all part of our current society and all need to be discussed.) By making cultural materials accessible in logical places and by making controversial works viewable in safe environments, we can better interpret history, work to understand diverse communities, and create a more informed society for a more successful future.

Sharing Passion, Community, and Stories Worth Telling

As I sit here in my office waiting for winter, I see empty trees that invite me to dream of my recently colorful space... This post is about a project that was special to me and relates to a community that plays a vital role in MY life. If you are not a member of the gardening community, think about how this story applies to a community that is important to you. How can you explore what you find personally meaningful, allowing the experiences of others to feed your own while adding your own imprint on the community?

***

A few years ago, while taking a "break" to have a child I returned to my photography roots. I had studied photography in high school and college and originally intended to pursue a career as a photo journalist. I took a detour when I discovered art history and left dreams of professional photography behind me. As a new mom seeking time for quiet contemplation, I found myself gravitating more and more to the garden with my baby. I sat her on a blanket while I weeded. I sat her near pretty posies that invited my recording of the scene, recalling old passions and using old skills of documentation that were tucked away for safe keeping in the recesses of my personality.

This seemed far from my archives world, sitting out in nature rather than inside among inanimate things. I began daydreaming, as I generally do, thinking of things beyond myself. The garden was a breath of fresh air that allowed me to ponder my life path and purpose. I began wondering if all gardeners came to the pursuit as I did, looking for a sense of calm and seeking communion with something larger than life. So I decided to find other gardeners. I had never belonged to a gardening club. The hobby was passed to me by my parents who kept their own gardens and shared their passions for it with me. All my gardening knowledge was taught by them, was learned from experience, or came from a book. Like my parents, I had never explored gardening beyond my own yard, but I knew that there was a community of gardeners whom I soon itched to know. I wanted to know what made them tick. I put up flyers at local garden centers and asked people to call me if they were willing to be interviewed and photographed for a project about passionate gardening that I called "The Gardener's Soul: Nature's Path Toward Inner Peace."

When I thought to embark on this project and while I conducted it, I honestly did not relate it to my archives work. Now I see how it fits so nicely among the archives and cultural concepts that I try to promote - acknowledging communities, documenting communities, preserving intangible heritage, sharing experiences, etc., etc. It began as a self-directed project to feed my curiosity and turned into a documentation and community project. The fourteen women who shared their gardening experiences with me also allowed me to record their stories and garden portraits in my book. They became an important part of my life -- a community bound by my writing and representing a larger global gardening community.

When we think about culture beyond ourselves as I did in my pursuit of "The Gardener's Soul," the possibilities for documentation opportunities are endless. What matters most to you that is worth exploring deeper? What communities have you formed or can you form around your own personal passions? How can you contribute to a greater good by sharing your experiences and your community with others? What tangible things can you create from your activities that will live for posterity? How can you tell others about what makes you joyful and what is important to you? Think about what is worth sharing and find creative ways to pass it on.

More Finds at the Local Antique Shop - Albums

A complete album is a rare find in the antique shops I frequent. If an album is offered for sale, it has usually been emptied of its contents, images separated to sell individually so that the seller can make a larger profit. (If you are a regular reader of this column, you already know that I object to this treatment. Collections contain more informational value when they stay together. Furthermore, many albums, atlases, illuminated manuscripts and other artifacts that we can appreciate artistically are often destroyed for profit, greatly depleting their artistry. ) Albums stripped of their images in antique shops are usually beautiful, with fine leather or fabric covers that enclose hard pages of windows for mounted photos. However, a couple of weeks ago, I came across a set of albums offered intact. Their soft leather covers wrapped around slowly deteriorating soft black pages and their photo corners precariously cradling black and white images of unidentified faces.

With some difficulty, I chose to purchase only one of the three albums. I did this in deference to my finances and storage space. I was hesitant to split the collection, but there is nothing in any of the albums to identify from where they came and to whom they belonged. Each album was a mirror of the other with more unlabeled characters. I told myself that I was not taking away any historical information. It was already lost. Few repositories would want any more albums of nameless faces. (I say this without getting into a theoretical discussion about when a repository might actually want such an item because there are times when an unidentified album can still be an archival treasure.) Additionally, in my judgment, these albums do not have any intrinsic value as a set. Each individual album is a treasure as a window into a particular time and lifestyle, but since the family was unidentified the wholeness of the set was less relevant.

The album reveals a large Catholic family in the mid-twentieth century. Individuals, small groups and large groups pose for the camera, to be remembered for posterity. There are images of babies, couples, teens, adults, clergy, and even pets. Images are taken in apartments, on the street, in front of churches. Page one shows the image of a pretty young girl. I would like to assume that this is her album. We are given glimpses of major life events - weddings, confirmations, and the like. I think that I will spend hours poring over this puzzle, trying to piece together a story by identifying faces that appear over and over.

When I brought my object for purchase to the register, I asked the sales clerk if she knew from where the albums came. As she flipped the pages with interest she told me that the individual dealers in the shop generally get items at estate sales. I told her, "It's a shame that no one can identify these people and that the history of this item is lost." She responded, "Oh well. That's what the family decided." I wondered aloud if the family realized that their community beyond their relatives may have had an interest in these albums. She looked up from the album as I explained that I am an archivist and I know many places that would love materials such as this for their collections if people could provide information about the people and places pictured. "Really? I didn't know that. These are really interesting," she said as she looked back down and began flipping through. She was losing herself in thought and told me, "You know, I wanted to be a nun like the ones pictured here."

Albums give us a lot to think about. They provide a look at the lifestyle of an individual family and offer little slices of how that family networked with the outside world. One may even find herself comparing her own family story to that of another when confronted with a stranger's album, reliving our own dreams and experiences as translated from a camera lens. As with any book, the story it tells is one in which we can dig in with our imagination.

(Blogger is not letting me post more than one image today. If you would like to see more images from the album, please visit my Facebook. page http://www.facebook.com/pages/ArchivesInfo/156934267979?v=photos&ref=ts)

Thanksgiving in the Archives

In celebration of my favorite holiday, this post presents you with some interesting Thanksgiving online finds representing holdings in archives across the United States. Happy holiday everyone!

Records in the National Archives include George Washington's proclamation of an official holiday of "humble thanks" and Lincoln's Proclamation of Thanksgiving as a national holiday.

The letter from persistent Sarah Hale to President Lincoln requesting the designation of Thanksgiving as a national holiday is located among Abraham Lincoln's papers at the Library of Congress.

A letter from Jacqueline Kennedy to the MFA director declined a to a visit to the Museum on Thanksgiving weekend. The letter is dated eight days before her husband's assassination.

The Macy's parade has been a holiday tradition since the early twentieth century and is one of my favorite holiday related events. Macy's provides some footage of past parades on their web site.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame provides us with a summary history of Thanksgiving Day football (American style) and some images from their archives.

It is an annual tradition for Presidents to "pardon" turkeys on Thanksgiving each year. The Bush White House web site has a nice gallery of images showing the events. I assume these photos are from the National Archives.

Depression era Thanksgiving recipes from "The Homemaker's Half Hour" are available from Iowa State University's Special Collections department.

Pilgrim Hall is a museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts dedicated to "The Pilgrim Story." They have a remarkable collection of Pilgrim related artifacts. Two documents related to Pilgrim Thanksgiving are transcribed on their web site.

What Thanksgiving related primary sources are in your community? Does your local historical society keep materials related to the events? Does your repository have any collections you would like to share? Do you keep materials in your home related to your personal holiday traditions?

Enjoy your traditions and your communities. And, don't eat too much!

More Finds at the Local Antique Shop - Rewards of Merit

According to The Ephemera Society of America. "Rewards of Merit have been part of the American educational system for more than 300 years. Typically paper and either printed or in handwritten form, teachers bestowed Rewards on their deserving students to recognize their classroom achievements and to acknowledge exemplary attendance. Even though youngsters received them, many times parents later wound up with the Rewards as gifts from their children."

If you would like to read more from the Society on this subject see http://www.ephemerasociety.org/news/news-rewardsofmerit.html . Their web site is actually a fabulous reference tool and is terrificly interesting, so I encourage you to explore it.

I find these cards remarkable from a number of perspectives. When I first saw them, I immediately thought of calling cards, which were carried by people who left them in special dishes put out for the purpose in the parlors of friends and neighbors whom they visited. Both calling cards and certificates of merit are very small (and sometimes very ornate) items and evolved as a result of modern techniques for printing. Cards served as a token of friendship, appreciation, and community. When they no longer had to be created by hand, individuals could more readily incorporate them into everyday routines, even creating practices built around the ability to print. The cards are beautiful and I've read more than one description of them that labeled them "charming."

Some of my found merit cards have the name "Libbie Hinkley" handwritten on them by the teacher. The backs of the cards contain remnants from the album or scrapbook from which they were pulled. I find myself longing for the intact book to learn more about Miss Libbie. Did the book contain images of her? Was there any more information about her school work? I am glad to keep her small collection of merit cards, but am saddened that it is such a small collection with no context. While I understand that antique dealers can make more money on individual items than on a whole collection, I am trying to think of a way to encourage the profession to keep intact collections together for historical reasons.

The American Antiquarian Society retains a large collection of Rewards of Merit. More locally to me, Historic New England also has a nice collection. If your organization has Rewards of Merit that you would like to share with readers, please add it to the comment section below.

From an educational perspective, I can't imagine most children in modern society getting excited about receiving this (except maybe my daughter and those of her ilk who have an inbred collecting gene and a love for paper.) Today, my daughter comes home with items from the "prize box," which include things such as little plastic frogs and erasers made in China. In the nineteenth century, students appreciated the new printing process that allowed for the creation of these educational incentives. It makes me wonder if teachers can try out new technologies and personalized documentation today to give praise instead of handing out meaningless cheap toys.