Last week we shared some highlights from a recently digitized collection (See: New Digital Partnership: Museum of Nursing History), and we’ve just added some additional items – the scrapbook and papers of World War II Army Nurse Jessie Margaret Ada Mutch (1905-2012).

Women in Uniform (The New York Times Magazine, January 24, 1943); from Scrapbook (Part 2).

Ada Mutch was born February 2, 1905 in Scotland and emigrated to the U.S. in 1912 with her parents and siblings. Reverend Andrew Mutch, her father, was Pastor of the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. Ms. Mutch was educated at The Baldwin School and then earned her Nursing Degree at the Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital School in New York. In World War II she enlisted in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. She served from 1942-1946 and distinguished herself in the European Theater of Operations. She then returned to Columbia-Presbyterian to pursue her career in nursing, along with a master’s degree in 1948. She held a dual position as Assistant Director of Nursing and Assistant Professor of Nursing at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. In 1955 she became the Director of Nursing at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania until her retirement in 1970. She was active for many years as a volunteer for ElderNet, and died on January 27, 2012, one week before her 107th birthday.

Items in this collection include a large scrapbook compiled during her time serving in the U.S. Army Nurse Corp, as well as various materials relating to her career in the army and as a nurse. The disbound scrapbook is on brittle paper and very fragile in nature. Digitization serves as a preservation strategy by creating a surrogate version of the item that allows for immediate access. We are proud to partner with the Museum of Nursing History to digitize the history of this important profession.

Most of the scrapbook appears to be from her time in France and contains many French theater programs and souvenirs, photographs, maps, correspondence, newspaper and newsletter clippings and full articles, and several United States government publications from the War Department. Ada Mutch served overseas for three years and two months during World War II. Initially she was a 1^st Lieutenant and Assistant Chief Nurse in England; and subsequently became director of the Nursing Section, Northern Ireland Base Section. She later acted in this capacity in France, in the Brittany Base Section, and then in the Burgundy Bay Section, concluding her service in Europe as Director of the Nursing Service in the 807^th Hospital Center.

Photograph and map, the “Palace” Hotel, Vittel, France, where the 807th Hospital Center was stationed, April 20 – July 17, 1945.

We were able to scan only a portion of this collection before the temporary closure of campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are eager to return to campus and share the remainder of this exceptional scrapbook and additional items from Ms. Mutch’s collection – as soon as it is safe!

Earlier this year, Falvey Memorial Library began a new Digital Library partnership with the Museum of Nursing History, currently located in the former Germantown Dispensary and Hospital on the campus of La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA. This fascinating museum is committed to the preservation and exhibition of historical nursing memorabilia and to the education about nursing’s past. We are excited to assist in the realization of this mission through digitizing and sharing some of their collections online. We were able to scan a portion of this collection before the temporary closure of campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are happy to be able to share the materials scanned so far.

Cadet Nurse Corps Records, 1943-1946.

First up is the collection of Elizabeth (Betty) Lattell-Beardmore-McQuale (1926-2017), a graduate of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps training program at Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia. Items in this collection relate to Betty’s long career as a nurse, and many of the items highlight her time in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps program.

Betty began her nursing career in 1943 by joining the Cadet Nurse Corps. Created by Congress in response to a shortage of nurses during World War II, the program recruited women ages 17 to 35 who had graduated high school, for admission to nursing schools by offering to cover their tuition and living costs in exchange for an oath of service during the war. The bill that was passed by Congress included an amendment that prohibited discrimination based on race or ethnicity.

A Salute to the Cadet Nurse Corps, Commemorating 50 Years of Service, [1994].

Of particular note are Betty’s classmates from nurse training – Jean Y. Oda, Emmy E. Ogami, and Marion H. Tanamachi – three Japanese American women from California. When Betty’s family donated the collection, her daughter especially noted these friends of her mother’s whom she had met later in life, and how they shared that they had enrolled in the Cadet Nurse Corps program in order to be released from Japanese internment camps, where their families were forced to relocate during World War II. Over 350 Japanese American women joined this program and became nurses. View photos of Betty and her friends in the two photograph albums and Betty’s 1946 yearbook, The Episcopalian, which contains many signatures and hand-written notes of well wishes.

Photograph Album 1, of Elizabeth Lattell, [1943-1946].

We are proud to provide access to materials about the history of nursing through the Museum’s collections, especially during this public health crisis. We are all more grateful than ever to the nurses and other healthcare heroes! We will be sharing more items from this collection next week, so stay tuned.

By Rebecca Oviedo

“It would be a dangerous error to think of the Holocaust as simply the result of the insanity of a group of criminal Nazis. On the contrary, the Holocaust was the culmination of millennia of hatred, scapegoating and discrimination targeting the Jews, what we now call anti-Semitism.”

–  UN Secretary-General António Guterres, January 27, 2017

January 27 marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945 and is designated by the United Nations General Assembly as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It commemorates victims of the Nazi regime and promotes Holocaust education throughout the world. This week also marks the next event in The Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest’s six-part series Revisionist History: “Revising the Holocaust.”

“Historical revisionism,” when associated with the Holocaust, is usually applied dangerously and disingenuously by Holocaust deniers attempting to deny, obscure, or trivialize the genocide of six million Jewish people and others by Nazi Germany during World War II, and to disguise their denial as academic or legitimate historical fact.

Once again we will be joining the Lepage Center with a selection of items from Distinctive Collections on display before the event. Our selections will focus primarily on publications from the United States, during or leading up to World War II. These items help to contextualize the Holocaust and serve as a reminder that we must recognize and be vigilant against hatred and discrimination.

Eugenics in the United States

Before World War II, eugenic-sterilization laws were well established in the United States, with more than 30,000 people in twenty-nine states undergoing forced sterilization. Published in 1922, Eugenical sterilization in the United States detailed Harry H. Laughlin’s study of existing sterilization laws.

Following publication, several more states adopted sterilization laws and Laughlin’s ideas influenced the Nazi Party’s sterilization law passed in 1933. Support for eugenics in the United States waned after the Nazi atrocities became known and with the increasing worldwide discussions of human rights.

Antisemitism and Jewish Response

The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem is Part I of a four-volume set of reprints from a series of articles appearing in Henry Ford’s newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, in the early 1920s.

In contrast, The “Protocols,” Bolshevism and the Jews: an address to their fellow-citizens is a pamphlet that was distributed by American Jewish organizations as a response to the circulation of fraudulent antisemitic documents and specifically, The Dearborn Independent’s “attacks of extraordinary virulence upon the Jews.”

As founder of the Ford Motor Company, Ford was wealthy and influential. His publications have been cited as having influenced Adolf Hitler and Nazism.

Father Coughlin and “Social Justice” 

Father Charles Coughlin was an influential and outspoken American Catholic priest who gained prominence and wide audience through radio and his publication, Social Justice, which ran 1936-1942. He was eventually forced off the air in 1940 for increasingly pro-fascist and antisemitic commentary. Special Collections has the full run of this periodical.

We will have additional items with us from Special Collections at the event as well as some selected recent scholarship from the Falvey Memorial Library general collection. We encourage you to review subject librarian Merrill Stein’s course guide on genocide and mass killing and Director of Research Services Jutta Seibert’s course guide on The Holocaust in Eastern Europe.

We also highly recommend the History Unfolded project by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which collects submissions from teachers, students, and any participant about different Holocaust-era events as reported in contemporary local newspapers in the United States.

“Revising the Holocaust” will take place Tuesday evening, January 28, in Driscoll Auditorium. Laura Bang, Distinctive Collections Librarian, and I will be there at 6 p.m. The event starts at 7 p.m.

For panelists and more information: https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/lepage/events/revisionist_history.html.

Rebecca Oviedo is Distinctive Collections Coordinator at Villanova University.

This Wednesday we will be joining The Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest for the next event in their six-part series on “Revisionist History”: Revising the Cold War. Rebecca Oviedo, Distinctive Collections Coordinator, and Laura Bang, Distinctive Collections Librarian, will be there before the start of the event with some selections from Special Collections to whet your appetite and help get the conversation going. Our Distinctive Collections have plenty of primary sources to offer different perspectives, contemporary insight, and aid “revisionist history.”  Here is a sneak peak of just a few of the items we will be bringing:

These striking illustrations from popular weekly magazine Collier’s, August 5, 1950 issue depict a burning New York City under nuclear attack. The imagined scenario ran in the article titled, “Hiroshima, U.S.A.: Can Anything be Done About It?,” written by John Lear. The first page of the article explains “the story of this story”:

For five years now the world has lived with the dreadful knowledge that atomic warfare is possible. Since last September, when the President announced publicly that the Russians too had produced an atomic explosion, this nation has lived face to face with the terrifying realization that an attack with atomic weapons could be made against us. But, until now, no responsible voice has evaluated the problem constructively, in words everybody can understand. This article performs that service. Collier’s gives it more than customary space in the conviction that, when the danger is delineated and the means to combat it effectively is made clear, democracy will have an infinitely stronger chance to survive.

The article appeared almost exactly 5 years after the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Though imaginary, the images and data are still arresting. Today, with advanced technology, computer simulation and interactive maps, users can view the frightening effects of nuclear detonation with panelist Alex Wellerstein’s NukeMap.

We’ll also have on hand this 1984 publication, “Watermelons Not War: A Support Book for Parenting in the Nuclear Age.” Published by the Nuclear Education Project (NEP), a group of five women who came together shortly after the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979. Concerned about parenting in a nuclear age, they developed this guide to help parents and others develop a sense of hope and “find ways to answer our children’s soul-shaking questions about the world.”

Our final sneak-peak is the January 1959 cover of Bohemia magazine, the first of a three-part special “Edicion de la Libertad” (Liberty Issue) published in Havana after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. A portrait of Fidel Castro accompanies the headline “Honor and Glory to the National Hero” – the first time he was called a hero in any Cuban print media. The three issues together represent a turning point in Cuban history and for the publication as well – Bohemia, a popular weekly journal, was founded in 1908 and is still published today. One million copies of this landmark issue were printed to meet expected demand. With 210 pages, it is filled with graphic images of bloodied corpses and bodies of the dead at the hands of Batista’s regime. The stark images stand out between the advertisements for alcohol, tires, cigarettes, and face cream.[1]

“Revising the Cold War” will take place Wednesday evening, November 6, in Driscoll Auditorium. We’ll be there at 6 pm! The event starts at 7 pm. For panelists and more information: https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/lepage/events/revisionist_history.html 

[1]Special Collections holds three issues of Bohemia magazine published in Havana, Cuba in January 1959 upon the occasion of the victory of the revolution. Bound presentation volume of Jose Bustamente with title, date, and “Jose Bustamente” on front cover. All issues of Bohemia published between 1910 and 2013 have been digitized and are available on line through The Digital Library of the Caribbean. See also: Richard Denis, “UNA REVISTA AL SERVICIO DE LA NACIÓN: BOHEMIA AND THE EVOLUTION OF CUBAN JOURNALISM (1908-1960)” MA diss., University of Florida, 2016. Retrieved from https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0050550/00001. And Yoani Sanchez, “Bohemia, Latin America’s Oldest Magazine, Destroyed by Censorship,” HuffPost, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/latin-americas-oldest-mag_b_831747. Accessed November 5, 2019.

U.S. Army frock coat of Major General Sherman, 1864.

This week brings the next event in The Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest at Villanova University’s six-part series on “Revisionist History”: Revising the Civil War. The series brings together national and local experts to explore how today’s events compel us to re-examine critical periods in American and global history. Lepage Center director Jason Steinhauer says the goal of the series “is to show how revision is critical to all historical scholarship, and how new events and new sources continually challenge us to re-think what we know about the past.”

Here at Falvey Memorial Library we are continually bringing new sources and new scholarship to our community. We digitize new items each week for the Digital Library from our own Distinctive Collections as well as partner institutions. We want to share our enthusiasm for “Revisionist History” and this week’s event by inviting you to dig into some of our Civil War-era sources.

One of our most prominent items is the U.S. army frock coat of General William Tecumseh Sherman, on (mostly) permanent display in our Special Collections Rare Book Room. The coat is an eye-catching treasure, and it can easily be used to open a dialogue on how we remember and learn about the Civil War. It is relevant to the discussion of what has been traditionally collected, or not collected, by libraries, archives, and museums, as well as the recent debates surrounding public monuments of Confederate generals. Who have been the writers and preservers of history? What were their motives? Sherman’s coat has been part of our collection for nearly 100 years. In more recent years, part of our mission has included an ongoing effort to identify and acquire materials that relate to under-represented groups in order to diversify the collection and share a more inclusive history.

Here are some additional Digital Library sources from 19^th-century America and the Civil War:

Sherman Thackara Collection

The coat is part of this collection, donated by the family of General Sherman’s daughter Eleanor, who lived in Rosemont and attended St. Thomas of Villanova church. The correspondence in this collection contains courtship letters exchanged between Eleanor Sherman and Alexander M. Thackara, and letters from Eleanor to her father, frequently referencing public events and personalities, as well as many local individuals, events, and institutions of Philadelphia and the Main Line in the 1880’s and 1890’s. A unique part of the collection is A. M. Thackara’s correspondence, photographs, and memorabilia relating to his years at Annapolis up until his marriage. Here can be found an unusual first-hand picture of Navy life in the post-Civil War period.

Dime Novel and Popular Literature Collection

This unique and distinct category of literature was the main popular reading matter for average readers, both adult and juvenile, during the Civil War and up through the early 20^th century. Separate from strictly “news”-oriented newspapers of the day, these materials were created for and read by a mass audience and can be a useful source reflective of the cultural outlook of the period. Here is a search of “Civil War and Dime Novel” in the Digital Library.

Newspaper Collection

This collection contains hundreds of national and regional newspaper titles. Some of the more relevant titles for this time period with more than one issue include: New-York Weekly Tribune (New York, select issues from 1852); The Citizen (Irish newspaper published in New York, issues date between 1854-1856); Olive Branch (Doyletown, Norristown, 1842-1859); National Defender (Norristown, Pa, issues currently range from 1856-1876, with current ongoing digitization of later years); I.C.B.U. Journal (Philadelphia, Irish Catholic Benevolent Union, issues range from 1883-1900); Weekly Wayne Gazette from one of our newest digital partnerships (Wayne, issues from 1871-1872); and of course our own college newspaper The Villanovan begins in 1893.

Humbert Collection

This is the personal paper collection of Augustus Humbert which includes correspondence and orders related to the hunt for the assassin of President Lincoln – John Wilkes Booth – and the failed assassin of Secretary of State Seward – Lewis Payne; Confederate States of America currency; and his Pennsylvania Officer’s State Militia certificate.

John F. Ballier Papers

This collection from the German Society of Pennsylvania includes the Scrapbook of John F. Ballier, circa 1831-1889.  It includes numerous documents from Ballier’s service in the Civil War, including correspondence, military orders and newspaper clippings, as well as memorabilia going back to his apprenticeship as a baker in Aurich (Vaihingen), Wurttemberg, and related to his activities in Philadelphia during the rest of his life, including significant German-American festivities such as the Humboldt centennial in 1869, the Friedensfest in 1871, and the unveiling of the Schiller statue in Fairmount Park in 1886. Included is a manuscript note in the hand of Abraham Lincoln, dated 25 March 1863, addressed to Pennsylvania Governor A. G. Curtin, concerning Ballier’s being allowed to resume his commission.  Also includes an early day edition of the newspaper – Evening Star – April 15, 1865, prior to the announcement of the assassination of Lincoln.

William C. White Letters

William C. White was an Irish Catholic Union soldier from Philadelphia. White began his Civil War service as a volunteer with the 69th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers on August 19, 1861 and served in some of the bloodiest and most important battles of the War – Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. This collection contains letters from White to his parents in Philadelphia, recounting his experiences during the war.

Robert M. O’Reilly Papers

Robert Maitland O’Reilly (1845-1912) was the 20th Surgeon General of the United States Army serving from September 7, 1902 to January 14, 1909. O’Reilly served a long military medical career beginning as a medical cadet in August 1862 during the Civil War. This collection includes correspondence, military paperwork, personal papers, and ephemera. The majority of the collection is correspondence between O’Reilly and his family and friends, the bulk being letters sent to his mother, Ellen O’Reilly, and his sister Mary O’Reilly between 1864 and 1900. The letters that O’Reilly sent in 1864 document his service during the Civil War when he was stationed in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Autographs of C.S.A. prisoners taken during the Civil War and held at Johnsons Island.

This manuscript contains signatures of American Confederate prisoners of war held at the Johnson’s Island prison in Lake Erie. It is part of a collection of papers of Eleanor C. Donnelly, 1838-1917, a figure on the Philadelphia literary scene. She was known as “The Poet of the Pure Soul” and was a contributor to numerous Catholic magazines and newspapers.

Candle-lightin’ time / by Paul Laurence Dunbar; illustrated with photographs by the Hampton Institute Camera Club and decorations by Margaret Armstrong

Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1872 to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky. He became one of the first influential black poets in American literature and was internationally acclaimed for his dialectic verse. Included in this volume is the poem, “When Dey Listed Colored Soldiers,” with photographs accompanying each page of poetry.

“Revising the Civil War” will take place Wednesday evening, October 30 at 7-8:30 p.m. in Driscoll Auditorium. For panelists and more information: https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/lepage/events/revisionist_history.html

Stay tuned for our next post on “Revising the Cold War” and come see our table at that event for some selected sources from Distinctive Collections!

What is the smallest item in your collection?

While our Distinctive Collections have many small and fascinating items (a Sumerian clay tablet, a miniature edition of Shakespeare’s plays), the smallest item has to be this tiny seed pod amazingly filled with even tinier carved ivory animals. This item belongs to the James D. Reap, Jr. World War II Collection, which coincidentally also houses one of the largest items from Distinctive Collections (see: Scanning a Panoramic Sketch).

Red Seed with Stopper and Ivory Animal Figures, 1944-1946?, shown with dime.

The little red seed comes from the red sandalwood tree, common in India and other tropic areas. Sometimes called the Red Lucky Seed, Circassian Seed, Jumbi-Bead, or magic charm bean, the hollow seeds filled with carved ivory animals (usually elephants) were likely sold or distributed as souvenirs that would bring good luck with each animal inside. This seed, like a fancy perfume bottle, has a carved stopper on top that fits just right. Inside easily and comfortably fits thirteen paper-thin little animals. The animals are intricately carved and some are quite recognizable. There is a camel and a giraffe, an elephant, and other four-legged creatures. Each one is only about 4 mm tall (the giraffe is 6 mm tall) and the seed with stopper measures 8 mm wide and 12 mm height.

We are not sure where Reap acquired it, but it was certainly while overseas between 1944-1946. After enlisting in the Navy in November 1943 and training at Bainbridge, MD and Fort Lauderdale, FL, he was then ordered to San Diego to join the Japanese invasion force. The USS White Marsh took Reap to Pearl Harbor, HI, where he was assigned to the USS Proteus, a submarine tender, as a radar and communications technician. He was stationed at various times at: Guam; Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands; Japan; and Panama. After the war, Reap was honorably discharged from Naval service on April 6, 1946.

Earlier this summer we had a chance to revisit this collection with James D. Reap, Jr.’s son and great-granddaughter during their visit to campus. They fondly remembered the little “ivory zoo” and son James J. Reap recalled his father proudly rolling out the sketch of Yokosuka Naval Base in his basement to show family and friends. The family is happy that the collection is now being preserved with Villanova University’s Distinctive Collections, and excited to see items shared online in the Digital Library.

James J. Reap, ’69 and his granddaughter, Abby, pose with items from the James D. Reap, Jr. World War II Collection.

In my quest for “complex” items from our Distinctive Collections to add to Villanova University’s Digital Library (see: Scanning a Panoramic Sketch) I was drawn to the many beautiful hand-colored maps in The John F. Smith, III, and Susan B. Smith Antique Map Collection. While a few unframed maps and prints were already added to the Digital Library, the majority of the collection holdings to date are custom framed and previously unscanned (See: The John F. Smith, III and Susan B. Smith Antique Map Collection: A Recent Addition to Special Collections). Making use of past exhibition posters, I was able to utilize the large poster boards to remove or minimize the reflective glare from the framed glass to digitally capture these wonderful and unique images.

Pair of maps depicting the surface of the moon, based upon the models of Johannes Hevelius and Giovanni Battista Riccioli.

There are currently 62 items from the collection now in our Digital Library, 35 items are currently on display at Picotte Hall at Dundale, and we are expecting another installment of items for donation from the Smiths this summer. In addition to the items in the Digital Library, Distinctive Collections Librarian Laura Bang is developing a web exhibit for the collection, featuring Mr. Smith’s personal reflections on each map. We are excited to highlight and provide access in a myriad of ways to these historic documents as part of our academic mission.

This 18th century map of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York features an elaborate cartouche showing William Penn trading with natives, local flora and fauna, and a wild turkey. This Smith map is especially fine with ornate and expert hand-coloring, compared with another example, below, in our Special Collections.

Pensylvania, Nova Jersey, et Nova York : cum regionibus ad Fluvium Delaware in America sitis.

Selections from this collection were also previously on display in Around the World: Selections from the Smith Antique Map Collection, an exhibit on the first floor of Falvey Memorial Library in Spring 2018. Alongside these selections were other map and cartographic items from Special Collections, including a curious dissected map – an early precursor to the modern jigsaw puzzle! This item had also not yet been digitized, so I enlisted my colleagues to help assemble the pieces in preparation for digitizing.

Beaudry Allen, Preservation and Digital Archivist, and Laura Bang, Distinctive Collections Librarian, practice their geography skills.  

Some of the earliest surviving dissected maps were sold in London in the 1760s by mapmaker John Spilsbury. Originally a method of teaching geography to the children of the aristocracy, puzzle maps became more accessible to a broader range of clientele as new methods of manufacturing made the process cheaper. Our example came in a wooden box, with a handwritten inscription on the bottom: “with dear Papa’s best love and wishes, December 31st 1849.”

We did it! After successfully completing the (educational and entertaining!) puzzle, here is the finished product – which you can see dissected and undissected –  in the Digital Library: Map of Asia, by James Wyld.

Recently added to the Digital Library is a unique item from the James D. Reap, Jr. World War II Collection. The item is a 16 ½ foot panorama sketch of Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, drawn by Reap over the course of two weeks in 1945, while stationed on the USS Proteus in Tokyo Bay after the end of the war.

James Domenico Reap, Jr. was born on February 25, 1923. Originally from Berwick, PA, he attended Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, and the V-12 Navy College Training Program at Villanova University. Reap enlisted in the Navy in November 1943. He was assigned to the USS Proteus, a submarine tender, as a radar and communications technician. The Proteus arrived at Yokosuka Naval Base in August of 1945, where it was anchored near the USS Missouri for the formal signing of Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945.

The sketch consists of 9 separate drawings taped together to form one long panoramic view. Each drawing (except one) is dated in the lower right corner: September 20, 1945 A.M.; September 20, 1945 P.M.; September 28, 1945 P.M.; September 29, 1945 P.M.; September 30, 1945; September 30, 1945; No Date; October 2, 1945; October 4, 1945. The final sketch is signed on the verso.

In order to digitally capture such a large artifact, each section was scanned as a separate file and then manually stitched together in Adobe Photoshop. A few inches of extra overlap on the edges of each image helped to ensure a good match. Pairing the images together at the taped seams further aided in the creation of a cohesive image. Even if the item could be scanned as a single image, the resolution and quality would not be great enough. Scanning multiple images and stitching them together preserves the details and archival quality of the image.

Reap also sketched a view of Mt. Fuji, on August 29, 1945. This sketch is stored with the panoramic image in our Special Collections, but appears to be meant as a separate entity.

View of Fujiyama, Elevation 12390 Feet.

Selected items from this collection have already previously been scanned. As Distinctive Collections Coordinator, part of my job includes daily oversight and supervision of the Digitization Lab, and “complex digitization as needed.” I will be adding more complex items from this collection and others in the future. Stay tuned!

Imagine you’ve come across a box or a forgotten drawer stuffed with photographs, old programs, or tickets from a time you do not want to forget. Maybe you go out to the store and buy an album with blank pages, colorful papers and embellishments, and then get to work with some scissors and glue. Today scrapbooking is a thriving hobby and industry with millions of products sold to help you preserve your memories. Scrapbooking is not a new phenomenon however, and before these modern conveniences were available it would not have been uncommon practice to reuse or repurpose an old unwanted book.[i]

One unique example from Villanova’s Distinctive Collections has just recently been scanned and is now available in our Digital Library. In this case, the book was not entirely unwanted – the compiler did save a good portion of the book, but cut out the middle section, inserted yet another book, and pasted over other pages to create an entirely new book “for keeps.” A handwritten “Note” on the front flyleaf explains the author’s discovery of forgotten documents and prints in a cupboard when preparing for a move.

“This book in store among forgotten lore, came to life once more.

It might have been consigned to the scrap heap – I chose to use it for my scraps for keeps.” (Front flyleaf 2, recto).

The book, a 1910 edition of the Register of Members of “one of Massachusetts honored societies – The Sons of the American Revolution” was probably chosen for its handsome blue binding with gold gilt (which the scrapbook author extra-embellished with a handmade clasp attachment), but also for its patriotic association.

The author of this scrapbook is Charles William Smith (1843 – 1934). We know from the many newspaper clippings he compiled here, that he was born in New Haven, CT, came to Philadelphia as a coal merchant, and was a member of the Union League, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Masonic Lodge, many other patriotic societies, and evidently how he most wished to be remembered – “the man who saved the Betsy Ross House.” A clipping near the end of the book suggests Smith’s motive in this scrapbook’s creation. A poem written by Smith, published in The Frankford Gazette, April 11, 1924, begins:

My dear Patriotic friend

Way back in the year 1892

I would not now mention my act

That happened then—not even to you,

I am prompted to do so however—I am told

There is some person this late day,

trying to rob me of my just dues[ii]

Indeed, the person most credited for saving the Betsy Ross House is Charles W. Weisgerber. You won’t find much about Charles William Smith.[iii] This is not for a lack of trying on his part. It seems that for several years on Smith’s birthday, or even Flag Day, the Philadelphia newspapers would reprint Smith’s story.[iv] In one case, Smith published a thank you to the Editor the next day.[v] As he tells it, Smith heard in 1892 that the house was to be torn down to build a factory. He then “awakened the interest of patriotic men and women,” raising money to eventually buy the house in 1905 by selling ten cent subscriptions to 1,040,270 persons. These certificates were sold through the American Flag House and Betsy Ross Memorial Association, of which both Smith and Weisgerber were founding members. But who had the initial idea to save the house? Did Betsy Ross even live at 239 Arch Street? Did she really sew the first flag? The legitimacy of Betsy’s story and the house has long been questioned. And this scrapbook is Charles William Smith’s personal attempt to stamp out any doubt of the answers to all three questions.

[Parry Scrapbook, 8-9]

Smith has gathered various publications in the form of newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and books. They are joined with signed letters, sworn statements and endorsements by historians, Betsy’s descendants, President Warren G. Harding, and even notarized documents.[vi] Some of the items may seem disparate, but to Smith they may all share a patriotic meaning, and an intent to authenticate his claims.

The assemblage of the scrapbook begins with the SAR Register book, which remains intact up until the List of Members. This is where Smith’s scrapbook begins. After eleven pages, a second book is inserted, Betsy Ross and the United States Flag, A Paper Read Before the Bucks County Historical Society, 1909, by Oliver Randolph Parry. This portion of the scrapbook is scanned open as two-page spreads, with page numbers identifying the published book as “Parry, #”, and the scrapbook pages within as [Parry Scrapbook, #]. When the Parry book ends, the Scrapbook pages of the outer book resume, and then we have the remainder of the SAR Register book preserved. The final pages contain some inserts of personal documents: Smith’s membership to The Historical Society of Pennsylvania (January 24, 1898); his acceptance degree as a Master Mason of St. Alban Lodge #529 (May 6, 1886); and membership to the Athletic Club of the Schuylkill Navy (November 12, 1892). Within these pages are also bits of wood from Valley Forge National Historic Park and Independence Hall; with mention of a gavel made of wood from the floorboards of the Betsy Ross House. There is correspondence with O.H. Oldroyd, collector and historian of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia. And there is of course the use of red, white, and blue colors throughout, and the lyrics and music sheet for The Star-Spangled Banner.

[Parry Scrapbook, 16-17]

By making this scrapbook, Smith has attempted to give permanence to these items by pasting them down and preserving them for posterity. The scrapbook has been in Villanova’s collection since 1956, when it was donated by an alum, Dr. Edward A. Mallon. The connection between Smith and Mallon (if there is one) is unclear, and how it came to be in Mallon’s possession is a current mystery.

I have missed Smith’s February 7^th birthday by more than a week with this blog post, but he probably wouldn’t mind seeing his name in print once more anyway: Today, Charles William Smith, “the man who saved the Betsy Ross House,” would have been 176 years old.

[i] “As one scrapbook maker whose family was busy cutting and pasting papers in 1873 explained, they were not ‘using up good printed books’… rather “there is nothing in them that we want, and so we propose putting in something, rather than have them stand idle…. Some of them are old school-books, not much worn, but out of date. Almost every library has some useless books.” See “Writing and recording with scrapbooks,” Ellen Gruber Garvey, OUPblog, https://blog.oup.com/2012/05/writing-recording-with-scrapbooks-history/.

[ii] Page 229.

[iii] See newspaper columnist, James Smart’s history of the Betsy Ross House: http://www.jamessmartsphiladelphia.com/betsy-s-house.html.

[iv] Clippings in this scrapbook date from 1922-1924.

[v] Scrapbook, 2.

[vi] The Harding letter is a copy only, [Parry Scrapbook, 12-13].

This recent acquisition titled, “March of the Sixty-Ninth,” references New York’s 69^th Infantry Regiment, popularly known as “The Fighting 69^th” or “The Fighting Irish.” The regiment’s coat of arms at the top of the page include the names of well-known Irish military heroes including Commodore John Barry, as well as motifs of Irish heritage such as the shamrock and the golden harp. The two Irish wolfhounds on either side inspired the regimental motto, “Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked.”

The text, possibly a poem or a song, seeks to combat anti-immigrant sentiments by demonstrating the natural bravery of the Irish soldiers and their loyalty to both their home country and the United States. The idea is reinforced by the repeating exclamation by Winfield Scott, Commanding General of the U.S. Army, “Seldom such men I’ve led; There go the boys for a FIGHTING BRIGADE!”

Around 1851 the 69^th Regiment began the tradition still followed today of leading the marchers in New York City’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. But the text here likely refers to a military inspection parade observed by Scott, known for his nickname “Old Fuss and Feathers” because of his attention to details and military formalities. Traditionally, military parades were not commonly held in the United States outside of war time, though in the early days of U.S. history military parades were sometimes reviewed by the President on the Fourth of July. But given the publication date noted here as “All-Hallow Eve” – October 31^st, 1858 – do you think the 69^th were marching in a Halloween parade instead?!

Transcription:

Comrades! the cocks in yon hamlet are crowing,
The morning star pales like our own dying lamp,
But fill, and we’ll drink “dough-a-doras” o’erflowing,
To outposts and soldiers asleep in the Camp.
Promptly at duty’s call
Forth they rushed one and all,
Must’ring in order along the Parade;
Gallant old Scott has said,
“Seldom such men I’ve led;
There go the boys for a FIGHTING BRIGADE!”

Honored by good men’s unsought approbation,
Specially thanked by the Chief of our State,
Soldiers by birthright, they’re sons of a nation
Of warriors who used but their swords in debate!
Marked ye the ranks to-day!
Straight as sun-setting ray,
Proudly they passed at INSPECTION PARADE;
Well has the veteran said –
“Seldom such men I’ve led;
There go the boys for a FIGHTING BRIGADE!”

True to the land of their birth and adoption,
Upholding the Free Flag, revering the Green,
More loyally bound to the home of their option
Than Orange or native-bred Arnolds have been. –
Impotent bigot-slaves,
Cravens and traitor-knaves,
War’s wild excitement would make ye afraid;
Scott knew ye well that day,
When he was heard to say –
“There go the boys for a FIGHTING BRIGADE!”

Comrades! away to your posts and your duty,
For Sol gilds the vane on the village church dome;
And ere he goes down, friends, affection, and beauty,
Will throng to the Batt’ry to welcome us home.
Guardians of liberty!
Soldiers we’re proud to see,
Eirinn’s allegiance ‘neath FREE FLAG arrayed!
Braver men never fought;
Truer men never sought
Liberty’s shrine, than the IRISH BRIGADE!