Hands up if you know what an autograph album is (or was)! Both hands up if you ever owned one. For those waving two hands I’ll take a guess that you are: a) female and b) over 40 years old.
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| A page from Rose Popham's autograph album |
In the second half of the 20th century, these little books, full of differently coloured blank pages, were especially in demand by girls coming to the end of their primary or secondary schooldays who would eagerly collect signatures from their friends and teachers. The signatures were usually accompanied by little rhymes, expressions of friendship or words of wisdom for the future. These inscriptions could range from sentimental -
Roses are red/ violets are blue/ sugar is sweet/ and so are you – to philosophical, and from witty to risqué.
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| A page from Rose Popham's autograph album |
The writer had a fair degree of freedom not only in what was written, but on where it was written. Some would take delight in being able to write
“By hook or by crook I’ll be first (or last) in this book” on the appropriate page.
A particularly delightful example of this genre (if it can be so described) came into Special Collections as part of a donation from Lynda Male. The book’s owner was Rose Popham (1886-1969) the fourth of 12 children born to Jesse and Frances Popham. (
JCU Archives hold the diaries, letters and other material belonging to her older brother, Joseph). Their father had arrived in Brisbane from the west of England as a 19-year-old in 1870. He married ten years later and lived in Ipswich before moving the family to Townsville where he established a family sawmill.
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| A page from Rose Popham's autograph album |
Rose was ten when she arrived in Townsville and grew up in the family home in Robert Street (now North Street) in West End. Unlike later autograph books, this was not a childhood collection. The earliest entry is dated 1913, when Rose was in her late twenties, and the last was made some twenty years later, with the majority of entries contributed between 1914-1919. Together they form a wonderful anthology of wit, wisdom and friendship. She never married but, with 8 adult siblings, was described as a much-loved auntie and, judging by the many entries in her book, had a wealth of friends. As an original staff member of Inglis Smith’s drapers store it is possible that some of her regular customers also made their mark in her little book.
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| A page from Rose Popham's autograph album |
The most entertaining contributions are surely the cartoon-like sketches and other illustrations, some by Rose herself. Their wry humour helps to lighten the solemn tone of the verses written during the grim years of World War 1. The latter remind us that many of those who signed Rose’s book would have had family members serving in that war. If some of the surnames (Diprose, Quinn, Mabin, Dearness) are familiar to us from local street names this in itself is an indication that these families suffered the ultimate loss, as many Townsville streets were renamed in the 1920s to honour the fallen.
Now, go and hunt out your mother’s or grandmother’s autograph books and see what pearls of wisdom, sentiment or sauciness lie within.
Story by Miniata
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