Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Vintage Thingies Thursday: Cripple Creek Class of 1913 Memory Book

This post is a little different than my usual, and because it is Picture loaded, the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday are HERE. Please take the time to read over them if you are unsure of what to do.

Please, let me say, this is picture LOADED, and because of that, I hope it does not take forever for the page to load. But, I think you will understand why I did not want to leave anything out. Remember you can click on the photos to enlarge and make it easier to read.

A couple of years ago, I purchased this scrapbook type book from an online auction. Being thrifty was tossed out the window. Cripple Creek is most special to me as is anything that has to do with this little mining town. So there was no way I could think about being thrifty. I would rather not say what I paid for this, as my husband sometimes reads my blog, but I will say it cost more than all of my yearbooks from grades 6-12 total.
Ahem......I had to have it at whatever the cost.


This is a red, leather bound book belonging to a young girl who graduated from Cripple Creek High School in 1913. It is in fairly good condition, and does not smell musty as some old books do, thank goodness.... Below, are the inside pages that are full of names, events, and a peek into a young persons life during the later ends of the Gold Rush. I hope you enjoy this, it is quiet special to me.

This is the information of the book, and who published it. (front of cover)

Love this old copyright page

This is the beginning.....the book was a gift to Mary Elizabeth Craig from her teacher. I am assuming the photo is of the teacher, the card on the left page was the actual inscription from the teacher.

Here is where Mary Elizabeth recorded the important information about her class. Just read the "yell" can you just imagine the kids today chanting something like this....hahahaha

These pages are signatures from classmates, she added a photo is it was available, and a clipping of the info on each student....For Anna Walker...her occupation: TALKING. Wow.

More classmates.....Clifford Holden's occupation: Minding his own business......interesting.

Ermine and Ashley must have been an item back then, the drawing is of them, and each is mentioned under their occupations......this has been so fascinating to me.

I wonder who in the world did the drawings, was it Mary Elizabeth? A classmate? Wish I knew.

The top left cut-out on the left page is for Mary Elizabeth Craig, "Mutt" (maybe that was her nickname. Her occupation was playing piano...so that tells me Mary Craig was a musician. Notice the drawings, they are fascinating.

More great writings by the classmates, these little poems or ditty's are so sweet. Sure tells of a much simpler time.....makes me wish I could have a better peak into what life was like back then.

The hand writings are wonderful, so charming.

These two pages seem to be greetings from the teachers.

Just look at these two pictures of her teachers. Look at the high collars and the hair.....these are original photos.

Can you just imagine the mischief this group could get into....look at their suits.


This is a note written by Mary, she recorded her thoughts of entertainment during her senior year. Notice she talks about where the teachers lived, very interesting. I wish I could have seen a photo of that.

These are just amazing photos. I am guessing classmates, just look at the dresses, hats and hair. Oh, the one on the left just gets me, I love that outfit...and can just see how it must have looked with these girls walking the old wooden sidewalks of Cripple Creek.

This book has several of these dance books. They are just amazing by themselves. Seems back then the girls were given a dance book, and they were filled out and important info was added to the book......
Look at the date, and place of dance.....

This is a hand written invitation to a get together during the time of a dance, it was found in the little envelope in the picture below.

Here is another dance book.

Each of these books have the names of the dances and the girls recorded who they danced with...I notice some of the songs have a "X" by it, so I am guessing that they sat that dance out!

This was a photo that must have taken place over the summer vacation......

This is a post card, and it appears to be from the same place, only it has listed the names of the kids who was there at the time.

Back view of post card.
This is a folded up info from Mary herself..it sits loose in the book.

This is a felt cut-out. I don't know what it is, or what it means. Maybe it was something that had to do with the school.

Snapshots of classmates. Love how all the names are listed.

More classmates

This girl on the right was according to Mary the Valedictorian.

Interesting......

more........

This is the ACTUAL graduation invitation for the class of 1913, Cripple Creek, Colorado

Inside of invitation...still has the original tissue paper.

This is the program from the graduation.

Inside information from the program.

This is a newspaper article about the graduating class. If you enlarge the photo, I think you can read it.

This is the dance book from the graduation dance....it is a green leather, feels like velvet it is so soft.

Info......

Class list for Jr.'s and Sr.'s I would think this might be like the modern day prom.

List of dances.......

More classmate notes...I just love these.... One says, "Don't forget what I saw Wayne do." and right under that...someone wrote, "Ditto".......now I just wonder what Wayne did??????

I wonder if the person who wrote this on the right side could have imagined that almost a hundred years later....the pages are not really yellow as she describes......

This is a newspaper clipping found inside the book. It is amazing to see....look at that quilt.

This is the back side of the paper....love the ads.

This is full of tales for someone with a wild imagination like myself.....trust me, I have really formed stories and thoughts on the people in this little scrapbook.

I have tried to research Mary Elizabeth Craig, but I have not had much luck. There is not even a photo of her here. I am going to take this to Colorado when we go this spring, there is a historical society there and maybe they would have some information. I have been told that a Hotel owner in town would be interested in buying this book, but being the hopeless romantic I am, I really would like to find the descendants of Mary Elizabeth. I can not imagine they would not want to have this back.

I was able to locate some information about some of the boys on the internet, but the girls proved to be much harder, due to the changing of their last names once they married.

When I purchased this book, I inquired about how they had come to own it. I was told, the book was purchased in an antique store in Northern Colorado in the early 1970's. That is all they knew....I wonder how it happened to come to the antique store, but most of all, I wonder what became of these kids in this graduating class. I think I must dig a little deeper when I am in Cripple Creek in May, then maybe I can get a lead on who really needs to be the owner of this wonderful treasure. I really hope I can find someone from Mary's family, they deserve to know their family member in an intimate way and through the eyes of a young girl during a special time in her life. I am most thankful, this is still intact and in good shape for its age.

Thanks for seeing this post to the end, I know it was rather long...but lots of vintage information to cover and show you in today's post! Have a great weekend everyone! And...if you happen to know any of these people in this book....let me know!

I feel sure Mary Elizabeth Craig of Cripple Creek, class of 1913, would love to have her book back, or at least, know her great grandchildren have it!


48 comments:

  1. From what I remember my dad telling me... the boys would sign their names on the girls' dance card for the dance they wanted to dance with them during. What a great find!

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  2. This is absolutely wonderful! I love how some jokes just never get old..."talking" as her occupation!
    It would be fantastic if you could find out more about Mary and locate any relatives who might want this book-Good Luck!

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  3. What an absolute treasure. Oh my goodness,,,what a find! I LOVE finding books like this with hand written messages all over the place. I have never come across anything like this before..I could spend hours reading through the pages. Thank you so much for sharing.

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  4. Have you tried the historical society- http://www.goldcampvictoriansociety.org/
    They might like copies of what you have for their archives A lot of times the people who work there know abt the families and/or will do research

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  5. Suzanne,First..Cripple Creek is problably one of my favorite places to visit..though I haven't been in years. It's always been my dream to live there.
    And that book..oh my!!! I do both sides of my families genealogy and I would wold faint if I had something like this. I don't know how something so precious came to be in an antique shop. But I'm proud that you have it..you will love,treasure and honor it.
    Happy Vintage Things..and have a beautiful weekend..

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  6. This is a wonderful book filled with a lot of history and family memories. But you have to remember, if a family member had wanted it, surly they would have kept or knew about it. This day and time, the younger generation does not appreciate things like this until it is too late. It means more to your than them. It would be nice to find a family member, but they would probably say keep it. That would be sad.

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  7. Hi Suzanne,

    Wow, what an intense post. It was most enjoyable going through it...you could almost feel like you were there.

    Hugs,
    Meri

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  8. That's a very interesting book. If I were you, I would be more likely to give it to the historical society than a descendant. It is information that could potentially interest a lot of people, but surprisingly few individuals really want to keep something like that.

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  9. Suzanne,
    OMG!!!!! This is a one on a million find!!!! So much history here! Have you tried to see if any of these people have family out there???? I know it is yours....but the genealogist in me is going nuts! LOL
    What a find!!!! I would spend hours going thru this!

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  10. This is an amazing piece and it is in the right hands right now. You obviously understand how special this is and are taking care of it. I think Mary Elizabeth Craig of Cripple Creek would like that.
    Jane

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  11. Spectacular! What an awesome peek into the past. The frocks! The dance cards!

    I recently started researching my family and was amazed to find out as much as I have because I have so little information and my parents, grandparents, etc. are gone but I have made it back 4 generations on my dad's line. So cool. You might try familysearch.org. It's free and who knows.....

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  12. wow...this scrapbook is absolutely wonderful! I am so jealous. I also would have paid big $$$ to own it. I have to go back now and enlarge few more pictures to catch more details.
    Great post!!!

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  13. Hi Suzanne,
    What an unbelievable treasure you found in this book......AMAZING!!!!!! I am so excited to be participating in your Thrifty Thurs...thanks for hosting!
    xojanis

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  14. This is the COOLEST thing I have seen in a long time!! I had so much fun reading all of it! Thank you so much for sharing this! Seriously too cool!!!

    I with Marina above, now I need to go back and read all the little details!

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  15. What an amazing scrapbook! Such a wonderful look back in time. Thanks for sharing it. Happy VTT!

    Jocelyn
    http://justalittlesouthernhospitality.blogspot.com

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  16. Although I'm not participating in VTT this week, I just had to comment and tell you that that book is absolutely SPECTACULAR! Love, love, love it!

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  17. What an amazing treasure you have. It's incredibly sad to me when I see old family photos or journals etc in flea markets and antique shops. I can't imagine why they got away from their families. I hope you find a lead to the family whose relative so painstakingly put the book together.

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  18. What an amazing treasure. I so enjoyed each and ever page you shared. Maybe you'll be able to find one of Mary's relatives. Wouldn't that be too special? Good luck!

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  19. This is very cool. It's so fun to imagine the lives and the hopes and dreams of these students. I am sure their lives were similar to ours but so different at the same time. It would definitely be a treat for her family to have this. You are a romantic. I can see that. Thanks for the fun post.

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  20. I love antique, vintage, and old things...especially when there is some known history to the piece.

    What a wonderful artifact it is that you have there! How interesting to be able to go through it to glean the history.

    ~Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage

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  21. This is absolutely amazing, and so charming!! I don't know when I've enjoyed a post more. This is just so entertaining and sweet, I'm going to save the other half for another time.

    And I DO apologize for making your counter go wild---I see that every time I click to enlarge a page, it counts me again and again. It was worth it, if you don't mind.

    Just a treasure, and I DO hope you find your young lady's family! We found a big scrapbook in an abandoned house when I was a teen, WAY before any kind of thought was given to valuing such records of the past, and Daddy brought it home just to look at.

    No internet then, of course, but I inquired and wrote to people of the names listed on the pictures, and I finally found a young woman whose grandmother was one of the women in several of the pictures.

    We met at a restaurant halfway, and she was just in tears to have her family record back in her hands, with all the pictures irreplaceable, and most of the people gone.

    Keep looking---someone will bless you for it!

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  22. Suzanne, what an amazing treasure. Each page is full of little hints of yesteryear. I think this ended up in the right hands!
    Thank you for hosting. I've linked a post for the first time this week. I look forward to joining in again in the weeks to come. Thanks for stopping by to visit me at HFTS.

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  23. My mother in law's maiden name was actually Mary Craig!....She's from San Francisco though....

    I hear you have an awesome vintage linen recipe? Would you mind sharing it? I couldn't find it on your bloggie?

    Warm blessings,
    Spencer

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  24. Wow, so much detail packed into that scrapbook. I wish I had something like that from my grandmother or great grandmother, how nice of you to look for the family who might want it.

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  25. Hi Suzanne, I can't stop reading this fabulous book. It is so much fun. It has wonderful history value besides just being fun to read. thanks for sharing it.

    I posted a shout out about a blogger I have met. she is a lovely person and her blog is so WELL written. I hope you will visit her.

    Have a wonderful day.
    love, Jeanne

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  26. I do not blame you one bit for spending $$ for this treasure. I love any type of photo because as the old saying goes " A picture is woth a thousand words". Luckily, you have the pictures and the words!
    Want to shout out to all my VTT friends and as soon as this wedding is over, I'm going to pull an "Arnold". I'll be back!

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  27. Oh my goodness, what an amazing find! You must've spent a small fortune, but I'm sure it was very well worth it. :)

    Just wanted to leave notification of my first VTT participation. I'm looking forward to meeting the other participants and making a fews friends along the way!

    Happy Thursday,
    Alma @ La Vida Es Bella

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  28. What an amazing treasure you are sharing with us today! I love all the details,pictures,dressed,dance cards. Thank you very much for that peek in the past

    Happy VTT!

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  29. I'm with everyone else - I love finding books with personal writing in them. It's something special that I can't quite explain.

    Suzanne - the chicken salad! OMG Ive not posted the recipe but I'm going to and Ihave to say that was the big hit of the party. I made it as sandwiches in croissants and I couldnt find the little ones so I cut big ones in half and they were all gone. all of them. I made more and than those were gone... even my dad ate it and said - hey guess what I had for lunch before I got here?

    chicken salad!

    but this is MUCH BETTER!

    LOL

    thanks so much for that!

    Tracy

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  30. Wow...this is so awesome. Thanks bunches for sharing it.
    I love your VTT...thanks so much for hosting each week.
    xo bj

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  31. Wow...this post really grabbed my attention. To hold that much personal history in your hands must give you goosebumps...it does me. I am so happy to hear that you are taking the time to do the research to learn more and then possibly pass these treasures onto the family.
    Last summer I bought a room of books at an auction which contained a large scrapbook of the family's history with old newspaper clippings and such. My friend was the auctioneer so I was able to give it to him to return to the family.
    Thanks for sharing!
    Blessings,
    Cindy

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  32. This is amazing. I hope you are able to locate her family. I would hope they would love having a piece of their own history returned.
    Sandi

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  33. hi Suzanne. This is a GREAT find. I love old books as well. I actually have both of my grandmother's year books with dance cards included! I even remember being fascinated by them when I was still a kid (I guess that was a premonition of what my obsession would be as an adult...vintage, vintage, vintage!). Beautiful post!

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  34. What a treasure that book is!! So intriguing, just sucks you right into that time. Fingers crossed for you and your searching for her family. What an adventure!
    *hugs*deb

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  35. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! That is a fantastic treasure, from a fellow scrapbooker, that is a treasured book. She kept everything-every little scrap of paper, every program, every picture. I have one of these from my highschool days-I hope someone, someday will come to treasure my memories.

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  36. Unbelievable! So much history in a beautiful little book. I hope you find the best place for the book, and that you will learn more about her life when she was older.

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  37. OMG so beautiful! I love it. I need to share two books I have that were my great grandparents. One is a journal that my great grandfather kept and another is an old algebra book. Maybe I'll put something together for next week to share. I love old family treasurers.

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  38. Fantastic treasure. I am sure great grandchildren would be thrilled to own it. Maybe with a lot of us searching the internet we can find her family. grace

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  39. Suzanne, I so enjoyed this post...every picture and all the detail. It's so interesting to peruse the past via a book like this with so many thoughts and memories involved and recorded.

    I lived in CO for a year and we drove to Cripple Creek several times...not for gambling either...just to drive and see where my husbands Grandpa was born. He was born on a ranch there. He passed away over 40 years ago but we wanted to try to find out what, if anything we could. We stopped at the visitor center twice and could never get any info, not even on the original ranch where he was said to have been born. Anyway, it is so beautiful there!

    I love poetry and found a copy of Drifting (I am planning a post around this). The entire book is written through...the girl who owned was at a lecture on classical music and used the book to take numerous notes. I believe it was around 1920 or so. It was so neat because her last name is my maiden name and I think she may have lived in the town I grew up in as I recognized the address jotted down!

    Anyway, loved this post!

    I just posted about Colorado if you'd like to take a look: http://nancysdailydish.blogspot.com/2010/04/pining-for-colorado.html

    thanks for hosting and for sharing,

    Nancy

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  40. I enjoyed looking at all those pictures! I am very interested in genealogy and find old pictures, writings, diaries and books so neat! Thanks for sharing that with us!

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  41. Wow! What a wonderful glimpse into the past. Hope you find a family member who appreciates this piece of history.

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  42. Suzanne, this is wonderful! What a treasure-- such a clear glimpse into the past. I spent WAY too much time on this page, and still didn't see everything --I'll be back later!
    Cass

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  43. Whatever you paid SUzanne it was totally worth it! I hope you can find some connections but I would ONLY part with the book to a member of her family! It is a great treasure & as you said a really fascinating peek into the past.

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  44. Oh my wouldn't that be fun to meet the person who compiled this neat book- or at least a family member who would love to have it back. How sweet of you to offer!!

    I have been reading my favorite blogs in google reader and haven't noticed your pretty header- I really like it!!

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  45. I am happy to have found your blog! Boy do I have vintage around my neck of the woods, and I look forward to sharing in the future:)

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  46. You are in possession of a wonderful piece of history there! No wonder you had to have it at any cost.Hopefully you will trace people in it or their relations. Great post!

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  47. Fascinating...though I have to admit it's the ads I love the most! Fashion just thrills me.

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Sometimes someone says something really small, and it's like it fits into this empty space in your heart!

Thank you for stopping by and leaving your thoughts here, they really mean a lot to me!

Suzanne

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