Ripley Ephemera

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Early 1900s Ephemera Found Stashed In A Bible, Part 3

February 11, 2010 in Books | Permalink

On the flip side of the note: "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near."

Got my hands an early-20th Century bible owned by a family in Ripley, New York, that had pressed in its pages a bunch of notes and clippings. One of the pieces is a faded handwritten note bearing the title, “Central Indian Mission.” I can’t be sure of the author or date, but the note refers to an 1877 Presbyterian mission. If you can look around the ethnocentrism of the note–and, boy, is it hard to do–you have to be sort of in awe of people in that era (before radio, TV, cars, antibiotics, etc.) sailing from North America to a country that they knew so little about. Such is faith. Here is the full transcript of the note:

“Our Canadian church first helped the American Presbyterian mission in North India, but, as we became more interested, a special field known as Central India was given to us in 1879 when the Rev Jim Douglas was sent to Indore.

Central India is a collection of native states north of the central province, it is a fertile section with of approximately 9,000,000, largely Hindus.

Our mission occupies the western section of Central India, with a population of over 800,000. Our stations are at fourteen central points each the centre of hundreds of villages for nine-tenths of India’s population dwell in villages. Fully two-thirds of Central India is yet unvisited by any Christian worker, so there is a great task at hand before our church; also let us not forget that the home life of these people, especially of the women and girls, is a sad one, and that all the men, women and children are like ourselves, subjects of the British Empire. Let’s see to it that India’s empire is Christ’s.”

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Early 1900s Ephemera Found Stashed In A Bible, Part 2

February 10, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

Theodore Roosevelt called Chautauqua "the most American thing in America."

Got my paws on a bunch of ephemera that was stashed in an early 1900s bible owned by a family in Ripley, New York. I brought you a transcript of one piece yesterday–an article clipped from the Ripley Express about women cultivating facial beauty. Today I bring you an information sheet called “Chautauqua Tickets.”

Chautauqua, massively popular in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, was a progressive education and culture movement that was begun in 1874 by Lewis Miller and John Heyl Vincent in Southwestern New York State. It grew into a traveling circuit that brought lecturers, preachers, musicians, Shakespearean productions, balled performances, etc., to rural communities across the country. The advent of automobiles, radio and TV eventually diminished the need for barnstorming entertainment.

The flyer (no way to tell the exact date) informs that tickets are available at local businesses, including Avery’s Garage and J.F. Vandrick’s Druggist Shop. The copy reads: “The War Tax is included in the price of ticket. This will save the trouble patrons were put to in former years. Adult Season Ticket…$2.75, Children’s Season Ticket…$1.35.”

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Early 1900s Ephemera Found Stashed In A Bible, Part 1

February 9, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

The bible is subtitled: "As Laid Down By Our Saviour--The Christ."

Got my gnarled, greasy, grimy, grubby fingers on a copy of a Cornerstones of Christianity bible that was owned by a Presbyterian family in Ripley, New York, in the early 1900s. While the good book itself is a standard hardcover copy of Testaments both New and Old (published by the John A. Hertel Company), there was a stash of newspaper clippings, personal letters, general-store receipts and other ephemera still pressed in the pages. The latest item appears to be dated 1916. One of the letters involves a missionary expedition to India.

I’ll bring you a transcript of each item in the days ahead. Today I’ll start with a newspaper article that was clipped from a local Ripley journal. I’d like to say it’s a horribly stupid, sexist piece that could never be published now, but is it really any more reductive than much of the the junk in today’s women’s magazines? Here’s a word-for-word transcript of the unbylined “Cultivation of Facial Beauty”:

“The woman who spends all of her money upon clothes and neglects her face and hair is no more interesting than a wooden figure decked to a gorgeous gown in a show window. A great artist once said to me that no clever woman would wear a garment or jewel to outshine her face. Meaning that the face should be the ornament and the garments should form the frame surrounding it.

Nothing looks more grotesque than an expensively gowned woman who has allowed her hair to become faded and neglects to dress her face. When I say ‘dress her face,’ I mean not only to wash it but to treat it with a pure face cream, which cleanses the pores of the skin, and the use of a little delicate, pure powder. Every woman past the age of 25 requires a little powder upon her face. There are secretions of dust and grease in the pores of the skin which cause a shine upon the surface that has an appearance of neglect.

The face, neck and hair should first be considered; the dress should be a secondary consideration. The quality of the hair, its care and manner of arrangement is a question only of attention. The quality of the complexion, its bloom and smoothness, is simply a question of exercise, cleanliness, and quality of creams and powders used.

First beautify your head, then fit your garments to suit it, and you will have a harmonious symphony pleasing to the eye and mind of all who behold.”

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