I found this AWESOME scrapbook in a box I bought at auction a few years back. It is a scrapbook of a girl working at Yellowstone for the summer in 1940. Back then they were known as "savages".
The scrapbook belonged to Elaine, she worked as the head waitress for $32.00 a month, with a possible bonus of $8.00 per month! At the end of the season everyone signed her scrapbook, just like a year book from high school. Click on the pictures to enlarge.
In the front of the book was a copy of her employment contract. It is a bit amusing!
Update added April 2021: For an 81 plus year old scrapbook of the summer at Yellowstone it is in great shape (not perfect). The cover is leather. The whole book is not pictured, there are a total of 20 pages.
The application was to work for Yellowstone Park Company. I love the lines in the application that state: “The company does not pay railroad fare to and from the park.” Or “It is further understood that employe will not keep a motor vehicle in the park during employment. Employes coming to the park in their own cars must arrange to store them outside the park.”
No I did not misspell employee or employees above, that is how it is spelled on the form.
Elane had the scrapbook signed (seven pages) like it was a high school year book, except everyone is from all over the United States: Washington State, Minnesota, Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Iowa, North Dakota, Tennessee and Kansas.
Elane was Head Waitress and from the entries it sounds like she gave out a lot of deserts to her fellow Savage Heavers! Reading the album her fellow Savages thought of her as a leader and respected her. She filled in wherever needed: sewing, ironing, even nursing a fellow sick Savage.
There is so much to learn from these 20 pages, just a small blip in time:
One entry starts, “I don’t know the date, but it is August.”
Phyllis wrote, ”it’s been swell knowing you this summer and getting me extra deserts, and also helping me iron my costumes.”…
Jean stated, …“five years in this ‘Park’ is enough of my life to ‘play away’.” Ruth said, “Remember the time we had nothing better to do than read ‘True Romances’ and how we wished we hadn’t wasted the time afterwards?”…
Everyone pictured in the scrapbook would be nearly 100 years old now. WOW!
Places like the Lake Lodge, Steppe Inn, Canyon, ‘No Man’s Land’ and Elephant Back are mentioned.
A bear even visited the garbage early one morning, there are pictures to prove it.
I hope this gives you a glimpse of the scrapbook and the treasure it is. It made me want to spend that summer in 1940 at Yellowstone.
Tucked in the back of the scrapbook was this magazine article. I am not sure which magazine.... I wonder if Betty and George are the same as pictured above?
Hope you enjoyed!
1 comment:
Lyneen, This is so fantastic. What a lucky find! My Grandmother worked at Glacier around 1918 and when we visited there this summer I wished so much that I had information about her. My Dad had just passed away and so now all that information is gone...
Thanks for sharing!
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