Otis Edwin White, of North Adams, Massachusetts, attended Phillips Academy from 1899 to 1903. The majority of the information in the scrapbook is from 1899 to 1901. The exterior of the scrapbook is falling apart, and the spine of the album has mostly broken off. The interior pages are intact though only half of the album is filled and it seems to be incomplete.

White’s scrapbook generally includes many track meet programs, newspaper clippings, invitations, notes about grades, Andover/Exeter tickets/booklets, and also information about clubs that he was a part of such as Forum and Philo. There are many photographs of his dorm room and friends that White took and some that were taken of himself. White included photos of athletic events including baseball and football as well as some payment slips to be a part of the skating association and for a school calendar. An interesting piece about the time period that White had included was a ballot for the national election of 1900 on which the eligible students at Phillips Academy voted; it tallied results of McKinley and Roosevelt’s win.

Most the information in the album was about athletics at Phillips Academy. Track meet programs are included, specifically one about interscholasticss in 1900, which lists names of other competitor prep schools such as Exeter, Worchester, Milton, Nobles and Buckingham Brown, etc. The scrapbook also includes a photograph from a Yale/Phillips Academy baseball game in 1900, an newspaper clipping about a Colby/Phillips baseball game and another cutout article about a football game during which Holy Cross College and Phillips tied. There is also a reference to Phillips Academy’s sister school, Abbot Academy because White included a booklet from the “Spring Tournament and Inter Class Meet” which had events such as a three-legged race and a fast walking race. Much of the scrapbook’s athletic references are to Exeter as White took particular interest in including memorabilia from Andover/ Exeter events. He included admission tickets to football games that indicate his seat in the stands, programs from Andover/Exeter track meets and baseball games, and a photograph from an Andover/Exeter football game.

The scrapbook also includes information about academics. White chose to add his report card from the end of his lower year, in 1900, showing the letter grades that he had received (mostly B’s). He also included a clipping from the Boston Herald, which listed the honor roll students at Phillips Academy in 1900, with his own name underlined. It appears that White struggled academically at Andover because there was a slip of paper explaining that he had failed Greek and was having trouble in Latin. There is also a note from J.L. Phillips, in 1900, that was included. Mr. Phillips wrote about White’s grades and his classes at Phillips Academy, and gave him advice to find “outside help to strengthen the places where [he was] weak” and that “it [would] be a life long regret if [he gave] up his school life”.

by Jordyn Fenton, class of 2017

Scrapbook Box 68