[AMERICANA] [YEARBOOK] HIGH SCHOOL AUTOGRAPH BOOK

Chicago, Illinois, 1986. 4 ½” x 6” x ¾” black autograph book belonging to Dorothy Ann Voigt (1912-2000) of Chicago, Illinois. This is a charming book with multicolored pages, legible writing, an attractive cover. Miss Voigt wrote inside the front cover, “D.A.V. Junior + Sr Year High School at St Xavier’s Academy 49th Cottage Grove Ave – Chicago Illinois”. Her name, address, and a school emblem of a castle and sword are printed on the first page. It is a little over halfway full of personal notes signed by friends and teachers between 1930 and 1932. ~~St. Xavier’s Female Academy, now St. Xavier University, was a Catholic women’s college started by the Sisters of Mercy in 1846, when Chicago was a new city. After graduating from St. Xavier’s, Voigt attended Lake Forest College. A few years after this book was created Dorothy married Francis Edward Headen in 1936 and became the mother of two children, Donald and Nedra. ~~In 1986 Voigt revisited her youthful autograph book and left interesting updates to some of the entries. This retrospection on the innocent and earnest wishes for a bright and happy future from her classmates lends a twinge of sadness to the book. One Jewish classmate moved to Warsaw with her husband shortly before WWII. A heartfelt note from “Edith” is followed by the knowledge that she died young. However, Dorothy was still friends with “Emily” over 50 years after her entry! ~. (Inventory #: 298471)