What do you notice? What do you wonder? What I notice on this page is there are two people who wrote on Marjorie's scrapbook, their words sound sad and cold as they mentioned death, Senior year, skeleton, and goodbye. I am wondering if Majorie gave this book to her friends who had been sick to jog down a few words for her so she could have something from them to remember and recall. I would like to know who wrote these words on this page and in what situation they were writing it.
Source: It is a scrapbook. Marjorie P. Collins is the author of this scrapbook, she created it in 1925, when she was still a student at Prairie View College (now Prairie View A&M University), a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Prairie View, Texas.https://transcription.si.edu/view/16011/NMAAHC-2012_94_0043
Context: Marjorie created this scrapbook in 1925 which was just a few years before the Great Depression (1929-1939). There were many changes that happened during this transition time. Women started getting more education, they even got the right to vote and entering politics. However, advertisements were flourishing in society and people were tempted to spend a lot of money, the money they might not even have. https://maryklann.wixsite.com/hist110/post/module-15-culture-and-consumption-in-the-1920s
Implications/Conclusions: To me, this scrapbook is a personal journal. I think this scrapbook is saved for people like us examine the people mentality who lived during that time, we can understand more their life through their scrapbook like this.
Discussion Question: If you lived during this time, what would you write in your scrapbook?
Hi Hang! I'm glad you chose this page to share, it is so interesting to read the inscriptions from Collins' classmates. The entries remind me of a senior yearbook, but you are right that they sound quite sad! 🤔 They also just remind me of people reflecting on a major life transition, so maybe Collins used this book as a way to remember a particular year of her college experience.
I like your question--if I lived during that time I think I might write the same things I would write now--memories that were important to me, connections to family, friends, and classmates, and maybe something to memorialize my main interests and hopes for the future. Seeing this page brought back memories of my experience as the editor of my high school yearbook. ☺️ (At the same time sad and happy!)