Search

Eleanor I. Moss collected poems, sketches, and engravings in this volume in the early 19th century. Male and female acquaintances contributed poems about friendship, nature, and religion. The visual material depicts buildings, people, and nature.

The Eleanor I. Moss autograph book contains 54 pages of poems, proverbs, engravings, and manuscript drawings and sketches. Moss's acquaintances contributed poems and extracts in the late 1820s, on subjects such as friendship, nature, and religion. Some entries are dedicated to "Ellen." "Caroline W." wrote a poem entitled "Thoughts by a sailor" (page 13), and "Life" (attributed to Byron) was copied with gold ink (page 39). Pages 108-109 and 115 have proverbs and prose passages with moral advice, dated 1845. The volume includes hand-drawn sketches and illustrations. Several engravings are pasted in. Most illustrations depict buildings in the British isles and country scenes.

• Couple under an arch (page 1)
• Dublin Castle (page 7)
• Two men and a woman, colored (page 11)
• Quarry Hill, Kent (page 11)
• Building by a body of water (page 21)
• Castle Acre Castle, Norfolk (page 29)
• Castle by a body of water (page 49)
• Stone building and cemetery (page 61)

• Open book (page 3)
• Boy holding paper (page 7)
• Bird, colored (page 59)
• People on a bridge, next to a man in a small boat, colored (page 63)
• Various flowers (page 122-125)

E. Merritt Cole of Colorado created these 55 manuscript poems and fine-line ink drawings of flowers and plants around the turn of the 19th-20th century. The artist used calligraphic lettering for their poetry, including tree-shaped characters. A few groups of illustrations are bound with ribbon and appear to have been created as gifts or gift books. Many of the works include multiple stages in the process of creating a final version.

This composition book was kept by 8–10-year-old Mildred Wood and Mary Wood while living in Illinois and Missouri. The volumes include copied song lyrics and poems, and pencil and crayon drawings. A number of pressed flowers and leaves are laid into the volume.

This composition book was kept by 8–10-year-old Mildred Wood and Mary Wood while living in Illinois and Missouri. The volumes include copied song lyrics and poems, and pencil and crayon drawings. A number of pressed flowers and leaves are laid into the volume.

The song lyrics and poems focus on themes relating to nature, love, and friendship, and include titles such as "Missouri School Song," "The Yellow Rose of Texas," and "Illinois." The drawings feature flowers, houses, and a portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. One outdoor scene shows two girls playing in front of a house, labelled "Living on the farm." Two pencil and crayon drawings done on tracing paper are laid into the volume: one of a ladies' boot with the name "Hamilton Brown shoe Co." on it, and another of a valentine with Cupid holding a bow and arrow.

Several entries are suggestive of schoolwork, such as sentence diagrams, a list of courts, a passage about U.S. history, a list of teachers in the Venice Public School and the average grades in their classes, and a list of the "Names of the Teachers I have had at Differ[e]nt Schools." Another passage is titled "The Japanese Fan."

Later entries were written in a different hand and consist mostly of quotations and proverbs. The word "Graduate" is printed on the cover of the volume.