Come on Archive Man!

So Tuesday has been and gone and there has been no email from the Strathcona archivist. He must either:

a) Be researching really hard and collecting so much information for me that the thought of sending a return email completely slipped his busy mind!!!!!, OR

b) Think I'm a nutcase and has ignored the email :P

I think I will have to call him on Tuesday and find out what the story is. Otherwise a trip to Melbourne would be necessary. Might have one coming up in July, but that is a helluva long way away!

Come on archive man! Send me an email!!! xxx

Inside Cover

Hello to everyone!

Nothing terribly exciting to report, although hopefully I will have more news come Tuesday. However, I did say I would scan in the front cover (re: Broberg/Braberg issue). So here it is. I kind of still think it's Braberg. Thoughts? xxx

The Strathcona Archives

I have just contacted Strathcona, and the lovely receptionist has given me the contact details of the archivist Glen Turnbull. I have sent him an email, explaining briefly that I have come across a letter in a second-hand book written by a Strathcona student in 1993, and that I am curious to find out more. I have asked whether members of the general public can access the Strathcona archives, when they are open, and if any of the archival material can be found online. He is only in on Tuesdays, so I will have to wait at least one week for a response.

Fingers crossed for a decent reply! xxx

Your Ideas

Good morning everyone!

Thankyou to everyone who has checked out the blog, and thankyou especially to those who have commented (both here and on facebook) and/or have ideas! You are all much better detectives than I am :)

I thought I might consolidate your ideas and theories here for my own benefit, so I know where to go next.

"I'd guess Emma is somehow in the picture. If a family gave you a book for your confirmation you'd have to lack any courtesy to flog it off to a book store within 6 yrs i.e. Between '87 and '93. Do the church keep a record of who's been confirmed and such" 

This is a good idea (thanks Callum), although not having her last name may make it a bit tricky. I'm sure there would be some record that shows the Sarahs that were confirmed in 1987. Dammit why can't here name be something obscure, like Mildred?! 

"I reckon Strathie is definitely the all girls school and is Meg's old school - she is talking about if you mixed the all girls and the all boys schools together which I think makes perfect sense. Also I would be looking at the book as belonging to Meg - I wrote millions of letters that I never sent but any letter I did receive was stored in the envelope - just a personal perspective. One part of the letter confuses me - if Meg is writing from France to a friend at her old school, why would she ask if the school uniform is different? Just seems weird to me. Good luck!"

Gemma, after re-reading the letter I would have to agree with you about Strathie. Jacques also came to this same conclusion so well done to both of you! Thanks Harmony for the list of schools close to Camberwell and Scotch; Strathcona is one of these which supports this argument nicely :) Time to contact Strathcona and see if there is anyway of getting hold of a 1993 school annual. Maybe the uniform changed in this year? I too keep old letters in the envelope, and have heaps that I never sent off.

"From what I can see there was once a shop at 116 bridge road, richmond called 'the bookshelf' that specialised in aboriginal books but maybe they had other stuff. Owned by Lyn and Ken Fraser and Susan Boughton"

 

Woot! Thanks David. I will be checking this one out too. 

"I think Meg sent the letter, if not then it requires Meg to have taken the book from Melbourne to France and then return the book to Melbourne, this makes sense if she is on exchange (people always take one book when travelling) but not if she permanently moved, books are heavy. It would have to carry great sentimental value for her to take around the world in which case she probably wouldn't have given it away between 1993 and 1997, she would have kept it. It makes more sense perhaps that Sarah is Emma's sister and the book fell into her hands. Or it was given away between 97 and 93, 6 years is certainly long enough to break the attachment to a confirmation gift (I used to keep presents for at least 12 months before giving them away, but even that's too long now.)"

 

Ah Suzie, that's totally true! If I ever find this Meg (unlikely but whatever) then this is one of the first conundrums I will be asking her about! 

"I had a thought, maybe it could help searching to find any Braberg's - although having a look on white pages it doesn't seem that there are any Braberg's in Victoria - or they aren't listed, which doesn't really help much!"

This is a great idea Megan. You are right, there are no Braberg families in the Victorian White Pages. However, there are seventeen Brobergs in Victoria, seven of which are in the Melbourne region. Having another look at this inscription, the "a" in Braberg is a bit ambiguous and could in fact be an "o". I might try and scan in the inscription so you can see for yourselves. If nothing comes of the Strathcona search, I might have to start calling some of these Brobergs (a very daunting thought- argh!)

Thanks again everyone :) Love to you all xoxox

A Bit About The Book

I thought I should probably tell you a little bit about the book the letter was found in. As mentioned numerous times, it is "Emily Climbs" by L.M. Montgomery. This particular paperback edition was published in Australia in 1987 by Angus & Robertson Publishers, and (according to the pencil marking on the first page) cost $4.50 from the second-hand bookshop. The back cover contains no sticker to say where it has been purchased from.

I have asked mum if she can remember which bookshop she bought it from; maybe they have a list of all the books they have sold! However, she cannot remember. She seems to think though that it was on Bridge Road in Richmond. However, after a brief internet search, there doesn't seem to be any second-hand bookshops currently located on this road. Perhaps there was one in 1995? Come on mum- think! I have checked out some books that were possibly purchased at the same time to see if they can give me any clues. "Chronicles of Avonlea", like "Emily Climbs", does not have a sticker on the back. However, both "The Golden Road" and "Anne of Green Gables" contain stickers for "The Merchant of Fairness, Diverse and Everchanging Books". There are two of these shops: one on Whitehorse Road in Balwyn, and the other in the South Melbourne Markets. The proprietor is Rod Cameron. Unfortunately, mum doesn't believe she ever went to a "Merchant of Fairness", which leads me to believe that these stickers were probably on the books before they came to the shop mum purchased them from. Far out so many dead ends!

Anyway, one of the most interesting things about my "Emily Climbs", apart from the letter, is the inscription. Dated the 17th of September 1987, it says:

To Emma

"On Your Confirmation"

Love From "The Brabergs"

Given that an Emma is not mentioned in the letter, the letter was either:

1. Sold to a second-hand bookshop before being given to Sarah.
2. Sarah is related in someway to Emma.

I am assuming that the book belonged to Sarah. However, it could very well have belonged to Meg (i.e. Meg never sent the letter).
 

Following on from my last post, I have looked up "Strathie" online. The only two schools in Melbourne that start with "Strath" are Strathcona Baptist Girls Grammar School and Strathmore Secondary College (a co-ed school). Am I missing something?

xxx

The cover of my copy of "Emily Climbs"

Clues

Today I'm playing detective and am trying to get an much information as I can from this letter. So far I have come to the following conclusions:

• The letter was written in 1993 to Sarah from Meg. Thankyou Meg, wherever you are, for dating your letter. If only you had included more details like this!
• During the time the letter was written, Meg was a high school student. My gut says that whilst in Melbourne, she attended a private all-girls school. Having attended one myself, the "one big social" reference screams to me of being starved of male company except for the occasional school social. In addition to being ridiculously boy crazy, she mentions her old school having a uniform, and also makes reference to the private all-boy high schools Camberwell and Scotch. However, I could be way off the mark; it could just be that the boys from these schools are universally believed to be gorgeous. And loads of government schools have uniforms. Argh dilemma!!!
• Meg has either moved to France, or is on an exchange trip in France. Her friend Sarah is back in Melbourne (thank Christ once again for the Camberwell reference).

Things I have no idea about that might be useful:

• What school Meg and Sarah attended.
• Where Meg lived/studied in France.
• How long Meg was in France.
• The surnames of Meg and Sarah.

Something that is confusing me a little (but isn't overly important I think) is the reference to "Strathie". I can't find any all-boy schools that fit the name. The only "Strathie" I know of is "Strathcona", an all-girls school. Given the fact that she is describing boys, I doubt she is referring to this particular school. Thoughts anyone?

SO much to find out. Where to begin?! If only I knew the school, then I could trawl some old annuals. But then it would be too easy, hey?

Is there anything I have missed? Please comment if you think so.

xxx

The Letter

Here is the actual letter (although I have had to manipulate the images a tad so that the writing can be seen; it's written in very pale blue ink). The paper is A5 with rounded edges and lines ruled both horizontally and vertically. I love Meg's handwriting- very pretty indeed :)

An Introduction

To anyone who is reading this blog (probably very few people, but one can dream hey?), hello and thankyou! This is the first time I have ever done anything like this, and I am very excited / incredibly apprehensive. If it fails miserably, my apologies for wasting you time. However, my hope is that it will work beautifully :)

The Letter:

Sometime between 1995 and 1999 (I cannot remember when), my mum bought me a copy of "Emily Climbs" by L.M. Montgomery from a secondhand bookshop somewhere in Melbourne. While I never read the book (I was more of an Anne fan), I do remember briefly flicking through it sometime around then and finding a letter inside. Despite being immensely curious about what the letter was about and who had left it, the letter remained unread; as a child I was incredibly prudish and seeing that the letter contained the word "sex" meant that I didn't want to be anywhere near it!

I had forgotten about the letter until the other day when I was mooching around the house and came across "Emily Climbs". The letter is dated 14.12.93, and says:

Dear Sarah, 

  I'm sitting in French understand JACK SHIT but I'm past caring. I've taken up watching Claude every lesson because he is extremely amusing, has a huge personality and is pretty darn cute too!

  Im meant to be doing some stupid exercise with abjunctives and participle passes and it's sweeping straight over my head. The french teacher sounds constipated and yells a lot so I'm not in a very good frame of mind at the moment. 

  However, life here is pretty darn good and although I'm starved of sun, I think I'll survive. A really hot day for these guys is 5° and it's allready snowed twice which is unusual for December.

  I'm having a whale of a time with the guys here as there are heaps of SEX POTS walking around and I've 'fallen in love' about 1000 times. Just imagine if Strathie + Camberwell Grammar or Scotch mixed and that's what its like. It's one big SOCIAL.

  Tomorrow is the school cross-country and I hope to do well because the 1st 10 receive medals, and these french girls aren't all that into sport.

- How's life?

- Have you got a <3 life at the moment?

- Is the school uniform diff?

- Are you going away? (for hols)

- How's things between you and Kate?

  Desperate for news, Meg xxoo

  P.S. Did the school receive my letters? No-one has replied.

The Project:

I would love to find out more about this letter! However, not being a historian, I have really no idea how to go about it. What makes it harder is that I no longer live in Melbourne. This is why I have decided to make a blog; hopefully with the help and ideas of others I will be able to find out SOMETHING!

Time to go and think about how to tackle this problem! xxx