Hans Bjertness' Autograph Book
Autograph Book
Autograph books have been around since the late 1800s and have made large contributions to today’s history. Hans Bjertness was a man from Trail County, North Dakota whose autograph book contained friendly notes and signatures from family and friends from home as well as Concordia College. During his college years from 1895-1898, autograph books were popular and common. Many of the entries were from the years 1898 and 1899. According to an article from the Journal of American Folklore titled, “Autograph Albums in the Ozarks” written by Vance Randolph May Kennedy McCord, “the oldest album we have seen carries the date 1876.”(1)
According to an article from Western Folklore written by Thomas A. Green and Lisa Devaney, “regardless of its lineage, the autograph album tradition in North America manifests an impressive range of adaptations within the general practice of inscribing words in a bound set of blank pages.”(2) It was a great way for people to connect and share feelings about each other. Even if you were illiterate, it was acceptable to find someone who was and have them write what you wanted in an autograph book.
Many of the inserts in Hans' autograph book were people wishing him luck and good graces in his life to come. After reading these inserts, it revealed that the Concordia students and people from his hometown were educated. The people writing in the book had good grammar and were well spoken. Therefore it reflected well on Concordia and the Midwest region during this time.
As technology began to appear, autograph books lost their popularity amongst people around the nation. When pictures were invented, the autograph albums transitioned into yearbooks. Although autograph albums died off, they did not lose any of their credibility. In the same article written by Green and Davaney they claim, “Since the late 1940’s a handful of articles have been published in scholarly journals treating the subject of autograph album inscriptions.”(3) They have made large contributions to today's history.
1. Randolph, Vance, and May McCord. "Autograph Albums In the Ozarks." The Journal of American Folklore. no. 240 (1948): 182-93. http://www.jstor.org/stable/536127 (accessed December 10, 2013).
2. Green, Thomas, and Lisa Devaney. "Linguistic Play in Autograph Book Inscriptions." Western Folklore. no. 1 (1989): 51-58. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1499981 (accessed December 10, 2013).
3. Green, Thomas, and Lisa Devaney. "Linguistic Play in Autograph Book Inscriptions." Western Folklore. no. 1 (1989): 51-58. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1499981 (accessed December 10, 2013).
Essay by: Matt Zimmerman