Ledger Pages

[Bethany K.]

Hi everyone, it's the Etsy nut again!    I found these original 1863 Michigan Southern Railroad Audited Vouchers.  http://www.etsy.com/listing/66517889/civil-war-rr-ledger-pages  The writing is beautiful.  I think my favorite entry is :  Catharine Stinebaugh, Cow killed near Bryan, Bec (?)

Anyone else think Cranford?

Here are some others:

http://tinyurl.com/64wgqlv
http://tinyurl.com/6ghwc2j
http://tinyurl.com/5s26dku
Ledger from 1846: http://tinyurl.com/6ghwc2j
1855 Ledger: http://tinyurl.com/6hn58uf

I notice that a lot of these listings talk about using the items for collages and assemblages.  It makes me want to scream, "Don't you dare ruin those pieces of history!"    Elizabeth, may I quote The Dressmaker's Guide, page 67, the section Using Vintage or Original Textiles for an article? 

[Elizabeth]

Certainly. It's for educational or review purposes, right? LOL

The individual owners still have their property rights. It would be very, very cool if owners would twig to the fact that they could preserve the original, do high-quality digital reprints of them for sale, and get all the best of both historic preservation AND commerce!

[Bethany K.]

Thank you!    

I want to write an article that can be summed up like this:  Originals are pieces of history.  Be nice and use facsimiles in your art.  Preserve the real stuff.  I like your suggestion to promote historic preservation and commerce.  Have your cake and eat it too!

If anyone thinks of some good examples, or an angle I didn't think of, please let me know!