The Pink and Green

Unknown Group, circa 1890.

To view past Photos of the Month, please go to:
http://www.albion.edu/library/specialcollections/Exhibits/pastphotos.asp

This edition of “A Day in the Life” includes images from winter holidays past–dressing up as Santa Claus, putting up the Christmas tree, making snowmen, going to holiday concerts, hanging out with friends, drinking eggnog, opening gifts, and reading special editions of the Pleiad. The images used here are from a variety of sources, including the Pleiad and the College Archives’ photograph collection, as well as scrapbooks from deceased alumni, Frederick Goodrich and Glennie Weston, and others documenting Dean Hall and the Music Department.

Our scrapbook collection is unique in that, many times, the images found here cannot be located anywhere else in the College Archives’ collections. Scrapbooks also provide context for the images and other items included within that one doesn’t find in a singular photograph, for instance–the combination of items sometimes speaks volumes. The amalgamation of physical objects in a scrapbook carries, in addition to mere information, evidence of the use of the objects, through wear and stains and notes written in the margins; as well as evidence of the creator’s thought processes and the culture and fashion of the time implied by color choices, fonts, and stylized drawings.

Unfortunately, due to the acidic paper and glues used in creating scrapbooks and the many different types of materials that are usually used in scrapbooks (everything from leather, dried flowers, felt, human hair, cloth, metal, and photographs to different types of paper documents), they are some of the most fragile items in our collections. They are difficult to provide physical access to because they are so brittle and because many of the items inside have become detached over the years. Scrapbooks are also equally difficult to digitize, due to their large size, in order to reduce handling of the originals. For these purposes, however, we scanned parts of pages in order to provide a peek into this thorny part of the archival world.

If you recognize any of the individuals in the unidentified photographs or have Albion memories of your own that you want to share or donate to the College Archives, please let me know!

Pleiad Christmas 1914

Pleiad December 13,1928