Bookmarking the Holidays

by

Laine Farley 

“What shall I give for Christmas [or fill in the holiday you celebrate]” is a question we ask at this time of year and is also the title of an article in the Ladies Home Journal, December 1904, one of the early references I have for bookmarks as holiday gifts. Not only are bookmarks perfect stocking stuffers, they also provide an opportunity for children to make an inexpensive gift and, for those more skilled in various crafts, to show off their wares. The LHJ article lists a multitude of gifts in categories such as “Sure to Please a Man,” “For His Majesty, the Baby” and “When Two Hearts Beat as One.” Bookmarks appear in the less personal category of “Simply as a Christmas Greeting” along with items of the period such as penwipers, souvenir blotters, and turnover collars.

In a sentimental 1906 Ladies Home Journal article, Alice Preston discusses the difficulties of finding appropriate gifts and concludes that “no matter how simple the gift, if it is appropriate, if it answers some heart need—that is enough.” She recounts one Christmas when she had little money and gave nothing but bookmarks. She wrote a favorite verse on each and sent them with a personal note and “plenty of love and good wishes” concluding that “Perhaps you think that must have been a dreary Christmas, but it was not, I assure you.” Ironically, the previous year, there was an article by Bertha Hasbrook in the same magazine about “How Six Little Girls Got Ready for Christmas.” Little Alice made a bookmark by drawing a fleur-de-lis on cardboard, coloring it with watercolors, and cutting out a page flap.

The Alices made their bookmarks using traditional motifs. I wonder what they would have thought about the bookmark in the article “A Budget of Home-Made Christmas Gifts: Hints for Girls and Boys, Little and Big . . .” in St. Nicholas, An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks, November 1877. Along with items such as sachets, a hemlock pillow, more penwipers and a carte-de-visite receiver, are instructions for a bookmark in the shape of a nun. Described as a droll figure that is both odd and pretty, it is a cleverly-folded design with details such as “a mite of white band at the end of the sleeve and a suggestion of snowy stocking above the shoe.” 

A similar article in the same magazine by Ella Welch in November 1885 features 30 “Home-made Christmas Gifts” including a cover for shaving paper, an egg cosy, a jockey cap twine holder, and yes, more penwipers. This time, the bookmark is made from the corner of a linen-lined envelope and decorated as a fan with “other ornaments as taste may suggest.” 

In 1921, teacher Catherine Richter wrote detailed instructions for making corner bookmarks in Industrial Arts Magazine. She noted that “a bookmark is something that can be made at any time during the year, to fit certain occasions or used to fill in between seasons” and provided designs for a Christmas wreath among others. She advocated having the children make their own designs after the teacher demonstrates so that “the teacher will then have the satisfaction of knowing that her pupils have conquered a problem rather than the making of some particular thing, the good of which ends with the making thereof. She is giving an education rather than just making them skillful.” Indeed. 

In contrast to Ms. Richter’s seriousness of purpose and fine-tuned instructions is an article by Lois Lewis titled Holiday Bookmarks from the Education World web site in November 2004. She provides looser instructions with the goal of having “students demonstrate creative thinking in decorating bookmarks” made from felt or “pieces of various types of material” (i.e., almost anything). She encourages students to define the word bookmark and discuss how people use them as well as having them make bookmarks related to themes of December holidays such as Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Las Posadas. Although this exercise is carefully laid out as a lesson plan complete with objectives, assessment (“Observe students’ participation in the activity”), and related to national standards in language arts, math and visual arts, the educational value of the next example seems more evident.

Librarian Louise Bates describes her project to give a gift to students who visited the school library and to create a display for parents’ night in a December 1952 article in Wilson Library Bulletin. She made Christmas stocking bookmarks out of felt stuffed with cotton, and hung them across a brick design made of crepe paper. A dedicated educator in her own right, Ms. Bates “seized the opportunity to remind [the students] of the wisdom of using bookmarks instead of pencils or whatever might be at hand to mark their place in a book.” She had them time her while she demonstrated making a bookmark, and they figured out how many minutes and then by division the number of hours it took her to make all of the bookmarks—17 hours and 44 minutes. They also calculated the cost per bookmark but were “not impressed by the expenditure of money” at only $3.00 for 152 bookmarks. However, Ms. Bates was so pleased that she planned to make themed bookmarks for future holidays.

For those who are more skilled at crafts or at least willing to work from a kit with 12 different colors of paint, Vicki Schreiner provides patterns and instructions for “Holiday Bookmarks” (angel, snowman and stocking)  in the January 2003 issue of Crafts ‘n Things. A much higher level of craftsmanship is also evident in the Summer 1952 article by Evelyn Neher in Handweaver and Craftsman describing the technique of laid-in design, a design put in with extra weft threads. She uses a Christmas tree design as a way of learning the technique. If you have to start in the summer to complete it by December, it must be difficult. 

Then there is the over-the-top level of “craftiness”, evident as far back as 1906 in an article by Mary McKim Marriott on “Pretty Christmas Table Ideas” in Ladies Home Journal. Ms. Marriott must have been the Martha Stewart of her day as she describes table decorations “from the old times, when grown folks joined cheerily in Christmas frolics and took lusty part in those merry ceremonies and celebrations of Yuletide whose origin and meaning were frequently, even in those days, lost in tradition.” In addition to themes based on the Yule log, messenger birds and wooden shoes, she describes an incredible feast based on the medieval custom of bringing in the boar’s head. Although its origins may be much older, there is a legend in Oxford about a student who was walking near Shotover Hill, deeply absorbed in the study of Aristotle when he was suddenly attacked by a wild boar. With no other means of defense, he thrust the book down the creature’s throat, shouting “Graecum est!” The animal choked and his head was brought home in triumph. Ms. Marriott describes a scene in which a gilded and wreathed boar’s head is borne on a silver platter to the table with a small scarlet-bound book labeled Aristotle thrust between the jaws. She describes exactly how the centerpiece should be made and the type of candles and holders to use. Each place is adorned with tiny scarlet bound classics with gilded paper boar-spears as bookmarks with guests’ names written on them. Alas, she doesn’t provide instructions for making these unique bookmarks nor is there an illustration so imagination will have to suffice.

In addition to crafts and decorations, bookmarks appear in other ways to commemorate the holidays. In December 1901, Edwin L. Sabin published a humorous poem in Puck titled “The Bachelor’s Christmas.” It seems that bachelors may have been the recipients of some of those handmade gifts described in journals of the time as:

He looks with puzzled and weary gaze,
On the eight pipe-racks, and the ten ash-trays;

He goes on to list his gifts as he gazes:

On cases and boxes with silver crests;
On calendars, bookmarks, and other pests.

He concludes with:

And the bachelor groans: ‘Indeed, they may
Pity a bachelor Christmas Day!
Was ever a chap so downright harried?
I wish to the deuce that I was married!

Another humorous account of Christmas gifts comes from Tom Castanos in a December 1996 column in the San Antonio Express-News. He laments that he always loses bookmarks and thus they are a symbol of “that which is obtainable but not easily contained.” Claiming that he has lost every bookmark he has ever owned, he asserts that some people lose their way, others lose their mind, but bookmarks leave him, making him feel like the victim of a one-night stand. To his dismay, his wife gave him a gold bookmark for Christmas which he was afraid to use, carefully placing it in his desk. After she asked about it, he told her it was too good for a paperback and he was using it in a big Civil War book. Although his wife was satisfied, he knew he would be caught eventually so he put the gold bookmark in the Civil War book. He admitted that “With this gesture I single-handedly erased a small white lie and sealed that bookmark's fate forever. It was not long for this world.”

Perhaps it has joined the bookmarks displayed on a Christmas tree in the Rappahannock Regional Library in Fredericksburg, VA. According to an article titled Librarians find all kinds of stuff left between the pages by LaTasha James in August, 2004, the library found so many abandoned bookmarks they decided to decorate with them. I wonder how many were kiddie crafts like the red felt Santa I acquired in a lot of bookmarks from a used bookstore dealer.

The U.S. Department of Education created a web site in 2002 called Home for the Holidays – Reading Together to promote reading but also to encourage giving books to disadvantaged children or libraries.  And they echo the messages of times past by stating that “In many cultures, the holiday season is a time for giving. Some of the best gifts are those that are hand-made. Children who are interested in giving bookmarks to friends or family may use the designs provided for creating bookmarks at home.” Since BiblioBuffet is a celebration of books and reading—and bookmarks—it seems fitting to end with a reference to a set of bookmarks for libraries called “Season’s Readings,” one of which proclaims, “Not a creature was stirring, all were reading—even the mouse.” 

Bookmark specifications: Santa Claus
Dimensions: 2 1/2" x 8 1/2"
Material: Felt
Manufacturer: Handmade
Date: 2002?
Acquired: eBay

Laine Farley is a digital librarian who misses being around the look, feel and smell of real books.  Her collection of over 3,000 bookmarks began with a serendipitous find while reviewing books donated to the library. Fortunately, her complementary collection of articles and books about bookmarks provides an excuse for her to get back to libraries and try her hand at writing about bookmarks. Contact Laine.