What to do with scrapbooks?

[Grant S.]

I have been asked to make recommendations to the collections committee regarding what to do with donations that are waiting to be accessed (or not) into the collection. In this group, which ranges from beer coasters to a kite for a Gibson Girl, are at least 5 scrapbooks. Most scrapbooks contain an endless progression of tiny pictures of unidentified people, but sometimes there are real gems, like a 21st Army Group patch, original Nazi propaganda leaflets, etc. So my question has two parts, I guess. If we access a scrapbook, what is it for? Is it for research, or for building an exhibit around, or just caretaking? There is no way we can document the entire contents of a scrapbook in our database - it would take forever. Second, is it okay to "cherrypick" desireable items out of a scrapbook (like those mentioned above) and return the remainder? I want to be able to make a reasonable argument to the committee, because they will all have their own opinions, which in some cases may be guided by self interest and not necessarily what is best for the museum and the item itself. I eagerly anticipate your responses!

[Dirk]

Grant tough question to answer but for myself I see scrapbooks as a untapped source for history. Since so few of the men I studied left rewritten records of their day to day experiences the scrap books I have gathered provides just such a record. Scrapbooks also can put into context other artifacts in the groupings you acquire. Of course most of the books I have, have a single theme so each page is history and a more complete story when left intact. If the books contents are so varied and does not fit the museums goals then I would sell them and gain funds for acquiring items that the museums focus on. But look carefully at those "small pictures" they may be an important clue to the larger collection. But from your description, the contents seems very diverse and no relation between each book, leaning me toward sell.....but I would not break the books apart and cherry pick. Just my 2 cents.

[pchepurko]

Being a purest I would say that the contents of the books should be kept together. Each book provides a story and while the story may not be know at this time it may come to light later.

[hilltopr73]

I am unclear as to exactly what museum/collection is being referred to, so it is hard to make a very precise suggestion--other than totally agreeing that your group should NOT cherry pick the best items out of any scrapbook; that destroys the integrity of the collection and the provenance of the item removed. If you decide you cannot use a scrapbook, you might suggest that the donor offer to the US Military History Collection at Carlisle Barracks--they have built an extensive collection of these types of items that will be available to all future researchers.

[Herbf]

I have been asked to make recommendations to the collections committee regarding what to do with donations that are waiting to be accessed (or not) into the collection. In this group, which ranges from beer coasters to a kite for a Gibson Girl, are at least 5 scrapbooks. Most scrapbooks contain an endless progression of tiny pictures of unidentified people, but sometimes there are real gems, like a 21st Army Group patch, original Nazi propaganda leaflets, etc. So my question has two parts, I guess. If we access a scrapbook, what is it for? Is it for research, or for building an exhibit around, or just caretaking? There is no way we can document the entire contents of a scrapbook in our database - it would take forever. Second, is it okay to "cherrypick" desireable items out of a scrapbook (like those mentioned above) and return the remainder? I want to be able to make a reasonable argument to the committee, because they will all have their own opinions, which in some cases may be guided by self interest and not necessarily what is best for the museum and the item itself. I eagerly anticipate your responses!

I guess I am going to be opposite everyone else here. I work with them all the time and unless they are of real historic value, I break them up. For instance, I had a German scrapbook by a leaflet artist with about a dozen of his projects nicely mounted. I would never touch that. Then I bought a big WWII OSS scrapbook for $4000 and it had several hundred items, the vast majority of which were of no interest to me. I kept the items I wanted to write about; the stamps, the postcards, the letter sheets and some other themed leaflets, but the vast number of crappy stickers and poorly printed leaflets I sold off individually to pay for the cost of the scrapbook. So, I guess what I am saying is that if the scrapbook as a whole bears ALL good material of historical value, leave it alone. If it bears a few dozen historical items and a few hundred crappy photos, then break it up and do something with the good stuff.

[gwb123]

As above, scrapbooks tell a story. It might be the story of a GI's wartime experiences, or it may be a kids view of the wartime events happening in their lifetime.

 

Either way, it is a unique narrative.

 

My vote is to keep it together.

 

If you need a more intellectual argument, it is a given in archeological science that the bulk of the value of an item is it's context: who used it, where was it found, what period is it from? If you remove an item from it's context, you have lost most of its real value.

 

As far as cataloging content, you may not have to detail each and everything. For example: 10 pages of letters between a GI and his fiance, 15 personal photos, 6 theater tickets, etc. If you find anything in it that is really special, like a letter of commendation signed by Eisenhower, you can always highlight that in your records.

[bheskett]

You could scan each pic in the scrapbook and you would still have the story and do what is best for your museum with the actual book.

 

 

Bob

[jgawne]

There is a special place in hell for people who dismantle photo albums. In fact, I have to say the Wright Museum has really just gone down a notch that they even have to think about this. It's a "One Item document" and you cannot tell what a future historian can figure out from it by noting what items are all together. Once it is in the collection you can (gently) remove items for display, but of course noted where they come from.

 

Museum and Archive studies 101.

[38Driver]

There is a special place in hell for people who dismantle photo albums. In fact, I have to say the Wright Museum has really just gone down a notch that they even have to think about this. It's a "One Item document" and you cannot tell what a future historian can figure out from it by noting what items are all together. Once it is in the collection you can (gently) remove items for display, but of course noted where they come from.

 

Museum and Archive studies 101.

Amen

 

Edited to add that a "crappy" photo to one person might be something totally different to someone else. Often times a good scanner can blow up some of those tiny images to reveal detail not immediately seen. I know that's happened for me a number of times.

 

Keeping the albums together keeps the trail of the items intact for someone down the road. Bust it up and you lose that.

[Jeeper704]

You could scan each pic in the scrapbook and you would still have the story and do what is best for your museum with the actual book.

 

 

Bob

 

Now that is a fine solution!

 

I'd keep it together.

That person took his time to put it all together, so why destroy it then by breaking it apart?

And even the "crappiest" photo can be a source of information (place, uniform worn, date, etc).

 

I have seen too many albums with pictures missing.

It made me wonder what was in these albums.

The story gets broken and that's sad.

How would you feel when some guy tears out the pages he likes from your favorite album?

 

Erwin

[Grant S.]

Thank you for all your responses. Mr. Gawne, please don't judge the museum based on the question of a volunteer who has never looked at a Museum Sciences book. This is why I asked. I want to do the right thing, but sometimes the resources are not there to do so. I suggested breaking up a scrapbook as a possible solution, but I knew intellectually and emotionally that it wasn't "right". We are currently between curators; if we had one I'm sure I wouldn't have had to ask. Mr. Burket has provided a reasonable "shortcut" that should make the job of cataloging less onerous.

 

So here's another question: two of the scrapbooks are from a sailor on the Indianapolis, but they're both pre-war. We are strictly WWII-era (with maybe a few exceptions). So the obvious thing to do with these (imo) is to send them to either the state of Indiana or the Navy Museum in D.C. (The donor has indicated that if we do not want them we can dispose of them as we see fit). Wouldn't it be nice if there were an inter-museum trade website? It would require policing to prevent person X from claiming to be a museum, but it would make things so much easier. Just register your excess items and your "would like to have" items. It doesn't even have to be a "trade" per se. I'm sure there's a hundred pitfalls that would make this impossible, but it's nice to dream.

[Thor996]

I have gone by your museum more than a couple of times but unfortunately not during hours you are open. I would say it would be a real shame if you found you had to break up the scrapbooks from the Indianapolis. Pre war or war time, USS Indianapolis stuff is always sought out. As for myself, I'd much rather hear you sent them to another museum rather than tearing them up. I realize museums only have limited space /storage available but stuff from the Indy is far from common even on the ebay market.

[siege1863]

I have a number of scrapbooks and photo albums in my collection and I have found it necessary to "dismantle" several. All too often the letters, ephemera, photos, etc. are mounted on highly acidic paper (we have all seen those infamous black pages!) or attached with tape that is damaging the items. I make it a point to either photograph or photocopy the entire scrapbook or album so as to preserve the original owner's layout. Once done, I then carefully remove the pieces, clean them, and sleeve them however possible. If the scrapbook or album contains an identification, writing, or captions, I will save these pages as well but keep them separated so they can cause no further harm.

 

A number of my albums and scrapbooks had the items randomly mounted and by removing them, I have been able to put the material in a more coherent order. Examples would be letters removed from the original envelopes, items contained within the letters, and recognized series or groups of photos.

 

One other point, and I have seen cases of this at the archives where I work, scrapbooks can contain awkward items such as booklets, maps, or oversize photos mounted to pages. Each time these scrapbooks are viewed and the pages turned, there is the potential for damage. Some have gotten to the state that they are now restricted from public viewing.

[History Man]

I will just echo what others have stated....far too many times have we seen scrapbooks ripped apart and sold separately, so I would hope that museums do not follow suit as that would really dismantle the integrity given to museums. If something is donated, I do not think it is right for the receiving party to tear it apart as it bests suits them and then send the rest back....I would go back to that museum and have a word with them if I received something back like that. So again, these pieces are historical records of individual servicemen and breaking them apart or cherry picking them, lowers the value of the pieces and the historical significance.

 

When it comes to the USS Indianapolis scrapbooks, are they part of a larger group or is it just two? If part of a larger group, keep them with the items as they came together and should stay together...regardless of era. If different, you can sell the group or donate to another museum. Now, I personally would stay away from larger or branch museums as most items tend to end up in a storage tub in a back room where they never see the light of day. In those cases, it may just be better to either find a place to display it or sell it to a private collector.

 

My 2 cents...

 

Philip

[thefallenbuddha]

I agree with what the majority have posted above.

 

A scrapbook is a single document. Taking one apart is the same as ripping up a single page document.

The relevancy of the items in a scrapbook is their connection to one another.

 

"Historical importance" is in the eye of the beholder.

Just because something isn't of interest to one person, doesn't mean it has no relevance to other individuals or groups.

Dismantling a scrapbook causes the items held within to lose their historical context and value.

If you want to emphasize one item in a scrapbook, take a picture or scan it and make a display with that. Don't physically destroy the album.

[AAF_Collection]

I also agree with the majority here, and jgawne puts it very well.

 

I have small groupings in my collection which don't fit my main focus, but I won't part with them as I know another collector is likely to part them out (eg letters from an 82nd AB Glider man to his English girlfriend which include Brit made patches).

 

Matt.

[Grant S.]

Again, thank you for your thoughtful replies. I can assure you that none of the scrapbooks will be broken up. It is possible that some items may be used from a scrapbook to support other displays that have nothing to do with the scrapbook per se, but the original context of the item will not be lost. (In other words - stop beating me up! It was just a question!) Thanks to Siege1863 for the practical advice. I will ask the director if maybe we can get another volunteer to take on "The Scrapbook Project". To answer History Man's question, the two from the Indianapolis are not part of a larger collection. I'm pretty sure that future Adm Hewitt was CO for one of the scrapbooks. There is also an interesting set of pictures of a Kingfisher that somehow sinks as they attempt to recover it. I really would like for certain items to get to a museum or archive that can make better use of them than we can - the problem of items sitting in tubs in the backrooms of museums where the never get seen is, unfortunately, endemic to all museums.

[Grant S.]

I just realized I brought home pictures of all the items so I could put together the list. So here are all the scrapbooks. The first is from S/SGT Allan Knight. It is unremarkable except for the "recorded letter" which we still haven't listened to. The air crew wings are probably his, but what about the pilot wings? And who knows whose ribbons those are? I'd like to think they're his, but the presence of the pilot wings puts a little doubt in one's mind.

[Grant S.]

The second scrapbook (actually 2 books) is from a Navy WAVE who's name I have forgotten. The scrapbooks are wonderful and chock full of great stuff. The collection of insignia includes some WO Yeoman collar devices that caused a bit of a furor last week on this forum .

[Grant S.]

The third is the set from the Indianapolis. These are the most fragile of all the books. The covers are amazing. I've forgotten the sailor's name but it's in the book. There is also an original Shellback certificate, which can be seen peeking out of the first book. And apparently Pres. Roosevelt was onboard for part of the cruise of the second book.

[Grant S.]

The last one is the scrapbook of Col. Delbert Fuller, one time military governor of Nurnberg. It has numerous interesting items inside but the book isn't much to look at. Contains a lot of non-WW2 era stuff.

[TLHSS]

All scrapbooks tell a story. And someone cared enough about it to donate it to your museum, assuming you would be a good caretaker of the item.

 

To play it safe, you may want to tell the committee to wait until you have a qualified curator on site again before making any recommendations on the disposition of items in the collection.

 

Tim

[srossio]

I know that this is an older topic but I wanted to add what we have started doing in the archives where I work regarding scrapbooks.
We were running into the same problem of them being cumbersome and difficult to display or utilize in research.
We decided to scan the scrapbooks for research purposes and then we created power-point presentations from the digitized images for play on our digital signs.
We usually place the scrapbook "on display" in a case next to the digital sign with all of the appropriate information about the significance of the book etc.
This gives people a chance to "leaf" through the book without touching it.

Just my two cents
Steve