Bertha and Ruth Edgerton scrapbooks

Container List

Untitled scrapbook, circa 1910s-1920s 1 volume Volume 1

This scrapbook contains no identifying information about the creator, but was most likely made by Bertha Edgerton. Scraps and cuttings in this book depict women, men, children, home fashions, flowers, and vegetables. Of note is an advertisement for Wrigley's chewing gum showing a young girl in a cloud of cigar smoke. The ad copy reads "Smoke all you want BUT - Please chew Wrigley's Spearmint before you kiss me." An additional advertisement illustrates a cat playing with Corticelli spool silk. Though the book itself is undated, the fashions and appearance of the clippings suggests the book was made during the late nineteen-teens or early nineteen-twenties. Indeed, one illustration, which depicts a woman and a group of angelic children standing around a figure cloaked in white (presumably Jesus), has the year 1919 marked in the bottom right corner.

Scrap Album, circa 1880s-1890s 1 volume Volume 2

This scrapbook was given to Ruth Edgerton by her sister Bertha Edgerton. The book was most likely a birthday gift for Ruth as there is a clipping that reads "I wish you a happy birthday" on the second page of the scrapbook. The book contains many small clippings from scrap sets, as well as several floral-themed scraps with Bible verses and Christian phrases printed on them. Printed on the inside cover of the scrapbook are the names Nora Edgerton and Fannie E. Davis. Nora was another sister of Ruth and Bertha. A card with the name Josie M. Huebsch is also pasted into the book. Several items are laid into the final pages of the book, including a Christmas greeting card "Presented to Ruthie Edgerton by Z. May Muffley, Teacher," the front and back covers of an 1889 garden manual from Z. De Forest Ely & Co. of Philadelphia, and two clippings showing a red school house and a floral display. Most of the scraps and cuttings in this book are illustrations of flowers, men, women, and children.

Scraps, 1887-1912 1 volume Volume 3

This scrapbook is inscribed "Bertha Edgerton, Creston, Lake Co., Indiana." The book is similar in many ways to the "Scrap Album" described above. A 1912 Sunday school card is laid loosely into the book. The album contains the name "Fannie Davis, Westmoreland, Pottawatomie, Co., Kan., June 16, 1887." In addition there are five advertising cards for W.T. Scritchfield & Sons dry goods and groceries, also located in Westmoreland, Kansas. The relationship between Bertha Edgerton and Fannie Davis is unknown, but it is clear that they were close as the name Fannie Davis appears in not one, but two of Bertha's scrapbooks. The name Cora Olive Atkin is written into a sketch of a bird on the final pages of the book. The last four pages of the scrapbook are almost entirely decorated with clippings from seed packets and catalogs. In addition, a beautifully illustrated annual seed catalog from J.A. Everitt & Co. of Indianapolis Indiana is laid in to the book.