A Fond Sigh of Friendship

Contents: About the Collection | About the About Page | Tech

About the Collection

Friendship albums are something you may have not heard of, or have a different idea of what they may have been. A friendship album, may also be known as an amicorum album, or in the case of my family, autograph books. These were albums where people would have a combination of artwork, poems, literature, autograph, imagery, and collages, etc. The friendship album is made up of passages from different people, who may have been friends, family, or even someone new. Friendship albums were not a purely Western construct, rather it was global, and from our research dates back to the 1500s.(1) The items that are in this exhibit are from Brock Archives & Special Collections and also from my family’s reservatory.

The second page of Ann Eliza Hepburne Rooth’s Friendship album, has a poem that describes this book very well:

'’Dear book, wherein I often view the faces of the loved and true, with whom I’ve wiled sweet hours away, and held sweet converse by the way.

Where are the friends whose silent forms, enclosed are within thy bonds, have they all gone - I left to mourn? And wander on life’s way alone.

Yes, some to heavenly homes have gone, their work on earth is finished and well done, and some are travelling yet in life’s rough way. And hope bespeaks for all a happy meeting day.

Dear Album! of no intrinsic worth art thou, that I so fondly o’er thee bend, it is fond memory that gives back the sigh, [for] each beloved, departed friend once nigh.’‘(2)

Friendship albums were a great way of leaving memories, especially during a time where there wasn’t social media and many people may not have had easy access to a camera. People could go travelling, meeting new people, and they could collaborate, adding to these albums.(3)

Ann Eliza Hepburne Rooth, the prior owner of the Friendship album currently in Brock’s reservatory, has the lovely demonstration of different types of imagery and literature spattered throughout her friendship album. This album is important to the history of Niagara because she was born in Chippawa, and Ann and her husband William, lived in different locations in the Niagara region throughout her life. It can be presumed that she brought her album with her. It also seems that she continued this book throughout her entire life as well, dating back from 1837 to 1897; a couple years before her death in 1899.(4) This would explain why there are very dark sections of the album, one even talking about the death of a child; only one excerpt is included under the name of ‘In Memoriam’.

Ann’s album can give us a glimpse into not only her history and her journey, but also a peak into Niagara’s history and visual culture; like what kinds of artists or writers were there, even the unfamous, are still significant.

The images added from my family’s repository, who mostly resided in Chippawa from the early 20th century, adds context and the trends of items in these albums. One album is my great-grandmother Mildred Hill’s and my Grandmother Frances Stitt Leeder’s. Stitt was her last name at the time when the book was made.

When looking through these friendship albums a connection can be made between the ones from the 20th century and the one in the 19th century. There are drawings, poetry, meaningful words from friends or family. Jokes can be found in these albums as well. These albums are a look into the history of Niagara, the types of people that lived there, and yes some of the entries in Ann’s book weren’t all from Niagara. It can also be used as an example of how someone from Niagara may have interacted with people of different cultures.

Having the extra two examples of friendship albums can show us the differences between the culture of Niagara in the 19th century versus the 20th. The writing style is different. The cursive is looser in the 20th century and tighter and much harder to read from the 19th, but even then we see a difference from the 1920s and 1930s in writing styles. It shows us how the culture has changed over time as well as the pattern of speech and dialect. The album from the 19th century holds a lot of Old English while the 20th century examples show us a much more modern way of speaking, even in the 20’s and 30’s.

Ann Eliza Hepburne Rooth’s album tells a continuous story of her life. This exhibition is only showing a few examples of such gifts from friends or families or new Folk; some may even be entries of her own, which wasn’t uncommon.(5) It can give us a glimpse into what some of the culture was like in Niagara in the 19th century, and with contrast with the 20th century albums, showing the difference and similarities between the two centuries.

List of Images from Brock Archives & Special Collections, Ann Eliza Hepburne Rooth Fonds, 1837-1897 RG 505:

1. The Attack page 3
2. The Defeat page 4
3. A Bird page 32
4. Eyes Which Never Close page 39
5. In Memoriam page 50
6. The Boy and The Dog page 93
7. Two Birds page 97
8. The Howling Dog page 120
9. The Pained Face Horse page 129

List of Images from The Leeder Family Repository:

1. A Shaky Hand
2. Bunny Ears
3. Help
4. Marry Harry
5. Mrs Hill
6. The Last Page
7. The True Last Page

Please Note: The of the image names are not the true names, and are just titles given to them for organization.

Citations

(1)Zebuhr, Laura. “The Work of Friendship in Nineteenth-Century American Friendship Album Verses.” American literature 87, no. 3 (2015): 437.

(2)Rooth, Ann Eliza Hepburne. Ann Eliza Hepburne Rooth Fonds, 1837-1897., 1837. 2.

(3)“Friendship Albums Show Social Media Is Nothing New.” Times (London, England : 1788). London (UK): NI Syndication Limited, 2018.

(4)Rooth, Ann Eliza Hepburne. Ann Eliza Hepburne Rooth Fonds, 1837-1897., 1837. Described by Chantal Cameron.

(5)Zebuhr, Laura. “The Work of Friendship in Nineteenth-Century American Friendship Album Verses.” American literature 87, no. 3 (2015): 437.