Playing with Scissors: From Fashion Catalog to Mother’s Scrapbook

By Wendy Korwin, Archives Services Manager

In 1992, Columbus architect Harry Phillian delivered a heavy volume to the Ohio Historical Society, as we were then known. The embossed title promised a 1915 catalog of fall and winter fashions from Edward E. Strauss & Co., a wholesale tailor in Chicago. Opening the book to any page, however, would surprise someone expecting to find the wool suits suggested on the cover.

The volume had been altered by Harry's mother, Mary Bird Phillian, when he was a child in Delaware, Ohio. Mary transformed austere arrangements for suits with names like "The Standard" and "The Century" into a giant, vibrant picture book for Harry. She used art from advertising cards and magazines to create collages that sometimes incorporated, and other times covered, the catalog's original illustrations. The images Mary chose represented everyday life during World War I through notices for savings bonds, the American Red Cross, the YMCA and YWCA. Like many other scrapbookers, she clipped ads for consumer products like Murad cigarettes and Cream of Wheat, both of which profited on racist caricatures. She included many images of infants and animals for Harry to enjoy, but also ones of political figures and entertainers.

Just as a single object can have multiple uses, it's not unusual for different archivists to approach the same item with different eyes and priorities. When the Phillian scrapbook arrived at the Ohio Historical Society more than 30 years ago, an archivist noted that it might be of interest - but only if the scrapbook could somehow be undone. If Mary's pasted images could be removed, her collages disassembled, it would reveal the original clothing catalog. I'm grateful my predecessors did not achieve this end.

Today, the item of interest is described in our archives catalog and preserved in our stacks. It's still a catalog of wool suits, but it is also a mother's gift to her child, a work of art, a glimpse into popular culture of the 1910s and probably much more. As an archivist, I look forward to seeing what new uses and interpretations researchers will create for it!

MSS 8925, Mary Bird Phillian Scrapbook

Interested in seeing this item in person? Visit our Archives/Library!

This blog was adapted from Echoes Magazine. You can read more from Echoes with an Ohio History Connection membership. Learn more here.