This scrapbook was made by Patricia Bowne, who graduated Abbot Academy in 1946, this book detailing her last two years. Various menus and flyers to programs, plants, and written messages comprise this scrapbook, which has an unusual sturdy wooden cover, the rigidness of which allows everything to stay within the book. However, these papers and images are not necessarily organized by section. Although one of the first pages in the scrapbook has a tab that says “Romance,” Bowne doesn’t separate anything; the only distinctions between pages is from the dates of each entry. As such, readers observe the various prom pictures and accompanying dance booklets, newspaper clippings regarding Andover athletes’ encounters with Exeter and Harvard students, playbills, and flyers from Bowne’s own personal adventures in a somewhat randomized manner. In addition, there are also long-decayed flowers from special events, school concert programs, sketches and drawings from Bowne’s probable boyfriend, and even invitations and telegrams that were addressed to Bowne from various people. There is even a brochure from the fall’s Andover-Exeter game, detailing everything there was to know about football, such as who everyone was and how Andover triumphed over Exeter. Despite all of these details regarding what was happening in Andover during these two years, everything in Bowne’s scrapbook is contained, meaning that there is no mention of what is happening outside the Andover world anywhere in the scrapbook. As a result, readers opening this scrapbook will have only a focused view into the life of one Abbot Academy alumna, one who managed to find love with one of her classmates, excitement in the various functions and performances run by/for students, and joy in the time she had at Abbot Academy.

by Zachary Ruffin, class of 2017

Scrapbook Box 105