Catherine Leach, a 1915 graduate of Abbot Academy from Boston, includes various tokens of her life between the years of 1911 and 1914 in her scrapbook. Her extremely full and detailed scrapbook remains in decent condition with only a few tears and detached pages. Leach creatively included newspaper clippings, pictures, cloths and small objects in her scrapbook. The items included in the scrapbook indicate that she had an interest in theatre and music. Programs for plays, musicals and orchestral performances at Abbot Academy, Phillips Academy and in Boston are common. The most frequent items are programs of pageants. Next to many of the programs in the book, Leach wrote about how people performed and how she enjoyed the performances.

In addition to events happening around Abbot Academy, the scrapbook contains many items that involve universities including Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth. Specifically, she attended the Harvard/Dartmouth game on November 18, 1911 indicated by the ticket stub she included in the scrapbook. Also, the book has an entire two-page spread with newspaper clippings regarding Harvard Class Day 1911 complete with pictures and tickets stubs from the various events. She decorated this particular spread with colorful confetti, showing her excitement for the event.

Many of the pamphlets contain advertisements of various consumer products such as ginger ale, construction companies and household appliances typical of the time period, the beginning of advertising of consumer products. Her book also includes a couple of posters for “progressive rallies” in Boston.

Box 50

by Camille Little, class of 1916