The Waters Family Scrapbooks

Today’s popular hobby of scrapbooking originated in the nineteenth century, when the first chromolithographic[1] prints made colorful images readily available to eager audiences. Examples from the time reflect the creative enthusiasm that greeted the new medium. They also offer fascinating perspectives on a woman’s thoughts and dreams during the late Victorian era.[1]

For more on the fascinating history Victorian art of “scrap-booking” that puts our scrapbooks into perspective, here is an article from the Journal of Antiques[2].

The Waters Family Scrapbooks

There are currently two scrapbooks included in the family collection are digitized in the website archives. Here are links to them, and some description of what each contains:

1. 1. The Waters Family Scrapbook[3]

 A leather-bound 140-page notebook filled with white, blue, pink, yellow and green colored pages. Containing hand-copied documents from the Waters family written in numerous hands, including poems, pages from a Frank Hewson logbook, pages from Thomas Waters Sr. diary during the 1844-7 tour of Maidstone recounting the slave ships captured[4], newspaper clippings regarding births, deaths, marriages and other news incidents regarding the mariner world, and numerous writings. A lengthy trip from England to America and Canada in 1873 is recounted over multiple pages, and the editorial “A Prince of Ashantee” written by Thomas Pyne for “The Times” has been hand copied.  A scan of this scrapbook was sent to Margaret by Philip Prashner in September 2021, just two months before his death. 

• • Amaret Dakin Waters Scrapbook[5]

The physical copy of this is on loan to Margaret Hewson from Stuart Smyth. (5 pdfs)

What’s in the Scrapbooks?

Some are keeping “art scraps”(as described in the history articles); others poetry and other writings; still others have family stories, items of interest, photos, drawings, etc. Some are transcriptions of quotes from other family members. Unfortunately, without work on handwriting identification, it’s impossible to know who penned most of the handwritten content in the books.

A Content Example: Treasured Verse

On pages 50 and 65 of the Waters Family Scrapbook, there are two interesting entries from Alice and J.A. Cairns. It’s possible that someone who had the scrapbook in England brought it over on one of their trips and had Alice and J.A. add something to it. Both decided to inscribe verse.

August 30, 1886

Alice perhaps uses this verse to describe her husband, the Reverend. The quote is unknown; perhaps Alice wrote it herself:

“Thine is a precious, glorious heritage –

Life, and the power of speech and sympathy,

And that which angels prize, the faculty

Of doing good, and showing to the age

in which thy lost is cast, the clear fair page

of moral goodness and of Christian worth.”

Alice Waters Cairns

Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia

August 30^th 1886.

August 31, 1886 – John Cairns writes from Halifax:

Though this poem is actually lyrics from a popular hymn of the day, he may be quoting this in reference to Alice…it would certainly apply to her!

“I ask thee for a thoughtful love

Through constant watching wise,

To meet the glad with joyful smiles

And wipe the weeping eyes,

A heart at leisure from itself

To soothe & sympathize.”[2]

Sincerely yours,

John A. Cairns

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Aug. 31^st/86

There is much to discover and explore in the family scrapbooks…we hope you enjoy them!

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[1] A Victorian Lady’s Scrapbook. Etsy.com. Found 11/1/20 at https://store.doverpublications.com/0486482073.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw7vuUBhBUEiwAEdu2pAfMtDlAOk6NZeC1niTwGHj4I2282A1wrdT-iNWZnN9wXLJLi5VPEhoCKhYQAvD_BwE[6].

[2] The Reverend is quoting from the hymn Father, I know that all my life, by Anna Laetitia Waring. To hear the hymn and learn more about Waring, see https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/ns/12[7].