This commonplace book, a reading-diary or scrapbook, is inscribed with the signature of one Jane Beltzhoover and “Berlin, 1882.” It contains recipes, newspaper clippings, passages of literature and poetry, sewing and crochet instructions, prints of cultural institutions and artifacts, and travel ephemera compiled between 1882 and 1885.

The manuscript pages are written in both English and German and the clippings primarily are from from American and German publications on political and social issues, topics of general interest, and cultural events. A few of the articles relate to the relationship between the North and South following the American Civil War and the legacy of slavery in the United States. At the rear of the book is a broadside of the minstrel song “Swannee Ribber, or, Old Folks at Home” printed by P.J. Dennis of Baltimore.

There are also articles related to scientific and mathematical news, including an op-ed about academic freedom by Johns Hopkins president Daniel Coit Gilman and an article about the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition to the Canadian Arctic. The book contains political ephemera, such as tickets and clippings related to the 1884 United States presidential election between Grover Cleveland and James Blaine. It also includes a “Catalogue of W.T. Walters’ Picture Galleries,” the art collection of William T. Walters that was later bequeathed by his son, Henry Walters, to the City of Baltimore and established the Walters Art Gallery.

Conservation Treatment

Disbind, mend any tears or losses in paper, re-sew with compensation guards to accommodate scrapbook additions, reattach original boards with new spine, and house in custom enclosure.