March is Women's History Month, so I'm looking at items owned, used,
or made by some of my female ancestors, as well as my memories connected
with them. In my last post for Women's History Month I'm sharing this fun autograph book my mom, Anna Margaret Kozlina Gilbride (1937-2010), owned.
Autograph books were around when I was in grade school, though I don't
recall having one. By the time I was in high school, friends usually
signed each other's yearbooks, a practice which took the place of
autograph books over time.
"Before there were yearbooks, there were autograph albums. Keeping an Album amicorum
or 'book of friends' was first popularized among university students in
16th-century Germany, and the books were primarily used to record
signatures. But they also included quotes, advice, and fond messages
from students, professors, and people of note. It was not until the late
18th century that autograph albums arrived in the U.S., reaching peak
popularity during the Civil War."1
This autograph book comes from Mom's days at St. Jerome Catholic School in Cleveland. The book measures about 4" x 6" and is filled with pale yellow and blue pages. The cover looks like leather and is embossed with a faded "Autographs" on the lower right of the front cover.
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Mom's 8th grade graduation portrait.
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Back then, Mom was known as Margie Kozlina. She was in eighth grade and the "class of 1951" according to the inside page. It seems the graduating class received these books as gifts from the school staff, as the inside inscription reads:
"God Bless you now and always!
St. Jerome's School
June 1951
S.M.A"
S.M.A. were likely the initials of one of the nuns who taught Mom. If I had to guess, I would think maybe her name was Sister Mary Ann, Sister Margaret Ann, or maybe even Sister Mary Agnes (or some combination of those names).
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St. Jerome Catholic School Class of 1951. Mom is fourth from right in the second row from front.
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There are 29 signatures of Mom's classmates and friends. Some signed with simple notes and their name, while others wrote out fun poems, such as:
Out in the woods
Carved on a rock
Are three little words
Forget-me-not.
That was written by Charlene "Chuck" Music. She added another note "Till the home runs." Other friends wrote similar puns. "Yours till Niagara Falls," was added on Marilyn Phillips' page, while Margaret Mulroy wrote, "Yours till the banana splits."
One jokester signed this way:
Remember the girl from the country
Remember the girl from the town
Remember the girl who spoiled your
book by writing upside down.
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An upside-down entry (text above).
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Joan Mezget's autograph page.
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Marilyn Phillips wrote puns, a poem, and added a heart doodle.
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Mom even asked Grandma to sign her book:
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Grandma signed Mom's autograph book too, in her lovely hand.
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I think my favorite inscription is the last one in the book. Mary Chappone wrote this beautiful sentiment:
When the path of life is ended
& the earth no more you trod
May your name be written
in the autograph of God.
Graduation is one of those lifetime events when one looks forward to what lies ahead, while also knowing one will miss what they are leaving behind. I'm sure Mom and her classmates felt those same feelings upon graduating from St. Jerome School. The autograph book perfectly captures both the students' silliness and the fondness they felt for one another in this snapshot in time.
Until next time...
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© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2024. All rights reserved.
This post was chosen for Friday Family History Finds on Empty Branches on Family Trees, for 29 March 2024. Thanks, Linda!
P.S. Below are the names of all those who signed Mom's book. Some were hard to read so may be misspelled. If you are related to one and want a copy of your relative's page, just email me at ngcintx@gmail.com and I'll happily email you a copy.
Pat "Frenchie" Blase
Mary Chappone
"Corny" (no first name or surname)
Danita Cunningham
Kathleen Drighan
Pat Dunch
Pat Eppick or Eppich
Gie Gie (no surname)
Judy Lancaster
Helen Lloyd
Maureen Mahoney
Jean "Mazz" Mazzolini
Marie McGeever
Valerie Meyek or Miyek
Joan Mezget
Margaret Mulroy
Charlene "Chuck" Music
Carol Noonan
Patty (no surname)
Marilyn Phillips
Barbara Planine or Plaminc
Jean Pryatel
Reggie (no surname)
Jeanne Saba
Nancy Samsa
Bobby Zabeling (might be Fabeling or Jabeling)
Ann M. Zerial
Margie Zridarsis
IMAGES: All photographs by author except for school portrait and class photo, private collection of author, Tioga, Texas, 2024.
NOTES
1 Amy Miller, "Before there were Yearbooks," Verso: The Blog of the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, 5 June 2019 (https://huntington.org/verso/2019/06/there-were-yearbooks : accessed 23 March 2024).
Oh, goodness, but your post brought back memories! Your mother's autograph book is a treasure! I had an autograph book back in the 1950s or early 1960s. I don't have it anymore, but I remember that someone used the "Remember the girl from the country . . . " verse in my autograph book. I also had an Autograph Hound. It was a vaguely daschhund-shaped stuffed doggie covered in cotton, which was easy to write on. I no longer have that, either, alas. And, yes, my husband and I both have high school yearbooks with all sorts of autographs and inscriptions in them. One particularly creative entry was made in my senior yearbook. I was a graduating senior in 1965, and my friend Charlie was a junior. He wrote a full-page satirical and screamingly funny inscription in my yearbook, hilariously detailing why I, as a graduating senior, was a "loser." That book I still have. Thank you for that wonderful post, and the trip down memory lane!
ReplyDeleteI think I've seen the Autograph Hounds, maybe when my kids were little? I definitely have lots of great entries in my high school yearbooks. I think I need to get those out of these these days to stroll down memory lane myself!!
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ReplyDeleteWhat a treasure to have! You have so many wonderful treasures of your mom's; so lucky! Those 8th graders sure don't look like 8th graders; they look like adults. ;)
ReplyDeleteI know, don't they. It's the glasses and fancy hairdos I think, and hats! I am very lucky to have so many great heirlooms of hers to remember her by, that's true.
DeleteWhat a terrific treasure for your family! I have my Mom's autograph book from junior high, and at least one of those school friends became a lifelong friend.
ReplyDeleteWonderful! That is so nice to hear, and probably pretty rare these days. Thanks for reading.
DeleteI also have an autograph book, my momma got me hooked on these when I was about 10 and I still have people sign them. Great blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words. That is so fun that you still have an autograph book. Is it for collecting famous folk's signatures or family and friends?
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