Summary

Autograph album belonging to Ellen (Nell) Amenda McPhee, nee Baker who came out to Australia on the SS Demosthenes in 1919.

This and a second album in the collection include several rhymes and signatures, collected by Nell during her migrant journey. The rhymes are evocative of the social attitudes of the era, and some demonstrate the enduring nature of some rhymes which have appeared in much more recent autograph albums. The also document a ritual of autograph collecting which has endured across time; in terms of migration, such a tradition can also be seen in shipboard menus and programs.

Ellen (Nell) Amenda Baker, born on 15/1/1896, worked in England as a scullery maid for a shoe and slipper manufacturer. John (Jack) Albert McPhee, born on 1/12/1896, had served in the Australian army during World War I, and while in England he visited his friend Charles Baker's family in Southampton where he met Charles' sister Nell. They corresponded during the War and married on 12 April 1919. Nell and Jack boarded the SS Demosthenes at Southampton on 26 July 1919 and landed in Melbourne on 14 September 1919 where they initially lived with Jack's parents in South Melbourne.

Physical Description

Brown cover album with gold embossed lettering on the cover. Empty except for an inscription on the inside cover and three interior pages have ink pen notations and signatures.

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