|
NEW YORK FOLKLORE QUARTERLY
Vol. XXIX, No. 3, September, 1973
AUTOGRAPH MEMORABILIA AS AN OUTPUT OF
SOCIAL INTERACTION AND COMMUNICATION
Stephen Stern
FEW ARTICLES in the folklore literature have dealt with
the subject of autograph memorabilia, and many of these
essays tend to be simply collections of verse that provide
little or no supplementary information. Some investigators have
attempted to document the change in autograph memorabilia
through time, but they have drawn inferences from their data
based on insufficient evidence, consisting largely of the content
and style of the verses. For example, Potter and Harder characterize
certain verses as being “serious,” “witty,” and “creative”
primarily on the basis of content and style, without additional
information from the writer concerning his intentions. Actually,
a verse may appear to be serious, yet may have been written as a
joke, and vice versa. Harder also infers the age of the writer from
scrutiny of the particular verse, but again, verses which appear to
have been written by youngsters are often written by adults and
vice versa. In addition, few folklorists have examined the meaning
and function that autograph verse might serve for the album
writers and owners. O. L. Davis hypothesizes that autograph
verse reflects the “social, emotional, and intellectual attitudes of
children and adolescents,” although his conclusions are based
mainly on a study of the text; no indication is given that people
have been interviewed in order to determine what their attitudes and values are towards themselves and their writing, and whether,
indeed, these verses can be considered reflective of the values of
children and adolescents. Furthermore, such factors as age and
grade level have only been rarely recognized as important, and
then unjustifiable conclusions have been reached, or statements
made which consist simply of untested hypotheses, of unproven
assumptions. For example, Harder contends that “the autograph
album tradition has seemed to settle down, perhaps permanently,
in the pigtailed. giggling, early teenage group in the school grades
from five to ten inclusive.” However, had Harder attempted to
test his hypothesis, he would have found that it would have been
disconfirmed, for the autograph album tradition continues
through 12th grade and into college. The reasons, then, that he
provides to validate his assumption are themselves invalid. The
process, too, of learning autugraph writing has been neglected in
autograph album research. There is no discussion at all concerning
prose writing, such as messages of good luck or reminiscences
of the relationships of the people involved, but rather heavy concentration
on verse and proverbial expressions. However, all of
these forms of autograph writing and their interrelationships
should be analyzed for a thorough understanding of any of these
aspects....
Voices is the membership magazine of the New York Folklore Society. To become a subscriber, join the New York Folklore Society today.
TO PURCHASE A BACK ISSUE of the New York Folklore Quarterly, visit our online book store.
TO PURCHASE THIS ARTICLE from the New York Folklore Quarterly, use the form here.
 BACK TO THE NEW YORK FOLKLORE QUARTERLY.
|
|
New York Folklore Quarterly
PURCHASE A SINGLE ARTICLE
To order a single article, please enter volume number, issue number, and title of the article you wish and click on an order button below to purchase through Paypal or with your credit card. We will send you a PDF of the article via e-mail upon receipt of your order.
ITEM #603
Single Article $3.00
|
|
|
Member Price $2.00
|
|
|
|
|
