Viola Barnes, Student
Viola Florence Barnes was born in Albion,
Nebraska, in 1885. She received
a Bachelor of Music degree and a B.A. and M.A. in English Literature
from the University of Nebraska, and a Ph.D. from Yale University
in 1919. Miss Barnes was an instructor at the University of Nebraska
from 1912 -1916 and at Mount Holyoke College from 1919 to 1952
where she was chair of the History Department and later chair
of American Culture. She died in 1979.
The Barnes Family collection of the Nebraska State Historical Society includes
both an autograph book belonging to Viola while attending school
in Albion and two unique handmade booklets known as "mystic
albums"
"Mystic albums" were composed of letters written
by friends on sheets of stationery that were then folded
so that the messages were hidden and tied with ribbon to keep
them closed. Visible on the outside of each of the folded letters
was the date on which it was to be opened and read. These dates
were sometimes specific, sometimes relative, but always seemed
to have a significance known at least to the author and the recipient
of the note.
Open when you happen to think of
me
Open on your next birthday
Open after you graduate in music
To be opened between 5 & 6 a.m. during the month of June
in Albion
To be opened last of all
The letters are fairly typical autograph
entries, although they are usually
written in prose not verse, and are usually longer than the normal
autograph inscription.
Dear little Sally:--
Yes I will write in your mystic album. When you read this I will
be having my nineteenth birthday. Oh! I wonder if it will be
spent at the dear old "Con". Probably it will not be
hailed like Jessie's twenty-third.
I am beginning to realize that soon we must leave the "Con".
probably never to return and possibly never to see one another
again. A sadness creeps over me.The future is like this book
"mysterious" and I hope it will be bright and fair
for you.
Elsie Mengedoht Open Jan. 6 1905
1611 Kymer Ave.
Omaha Nebr.
June 14 1904
|
NSHS
Home
Exhibits
Introduction
Hide
Paintings and
Ledger Books
Diaries and Journals
J.A. Hill, Civil
War
W. Richards, Surveyor
J.S. Morton, Statesman
Sara J. Price, Teacher
&
Homesteader
W. Danley, Businessman
J. & E. Green, Farmers
& Homesteaders
S. Buck, Farm Wife
Autograph Albums
S. & E. Allis,
Missionaries
E. & L. Correll,
Suffragists
W.J. Bryan, Orator
Lucy Drexel, Student
Viola Barnes,
Student
Scrapbooks
D.
Canfield, Author
Willa Cather, Author
C. Calvert, Educator
Fenton. B.
Fleming,
Businessman
Myrtle Soulier, Student
Verna Cort,
Student
Martha McKelvie,
Movie
Columnist
Emogine Moor,
Women's
Army Corps
Scrapbooking
Today
Photograph Albums
W.
B. Watson, Porter
Margaret and Edward
Gehrke,
Adventurers
Nan Aspinwall,
Entertainer
Frances M. Creech,
Musician
Quilts
Edith
Withers Meyers,
Quilter
Sierra Nevada Bunnell,
Educator
Home Movies
Future Memories
 
|
