Frances Harvey, descendant from the same line as Abraham Lincoln, lived in her hometown Oakham, Massachusetts before she attended boarding school at Abbot Academy.
The scrapbook made by Frances Harvey has a nice sturdy navy colored cover. The cover is very stiff and protects the contents from damage. The first few and last few pages are intact and very smooth and unharmed by the passage of time. But all of the pages in the middle have detached from the spine. Other than the pages falling out, the scrapbook is generally in a good condition.

Harvey entered Abbot Academy in September 1930 and graduated in 1932. Those are also the only dates that appear in the scrapbook. She organized the book in chronological order from the first day she arrived on Abbot Academy campus on September 13, 1930. Based on the contents of the scrapbook, she was involved in many events from prom to recitals to sports.
In between one of the earlier pages, is a little booklet that included the order of male students that she will dance with at prom. Since Abbot Academy was an all-girls high school, this suggests the involvement of students from other schools. Yet she never mentions which school they went to.

She also included many pamphlets and flyers for events that she attended or wanted to attend; many of these flyers are related to music and theatre. During her first year at Abbot Academy, she went to a concert of a famous pianist, noting that he was very popular because all the girls swarmed him following the performance. She played the violin herself and was in charge of the music in a play once.

Harvey also includes her report card from all terms while at Abbot Academy. The grade system was based on a letter scale. If the student’s grades fell below a C in two classes or more, they could not move on to the next grade level.

Many newspapers are in the scrapbook. She specifically saved an issue of the New York Times because it included an article that she wrote. Published in January 1931, the article was entitled Liberia Accepts Slavery Curb “in Principle,” But Stimson Demands an Unequivocal Reply. She writes about the reaction of the United States to Liberia’s new government and its possible new reforms.

The scrapbook also comprises many orange booklets that included scores between the two sports teams at Abbot Academy. They didn’t have other schools to play against so they could only compete against each other. She also attached a blue sheet on the last few pages of her scrapbook. On the blue sheet says the captains of each sports team. Her name is printed next to “Head of Hiking,” demonstrating that not only was she a music enthusiast and a fantastic writer, she was also very athletic.

by Xueer (Amy) Ji, class of 2018

Scrapbook Box 106