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Suspenders Manuscript

 Item
Identifier: MSN/MN 9205

Scope and Contents

The item in question is a small (12.5 cm.) handmade pamphlet of 8 leaves, with paper wraps, bound with thread. The front wrap doubles as a title page; accomplished in purple copying pencil, it reads: "Suspenders. An Epic Poem by Kreuzer. MK. Illustrated." The rectos of each leaf contain framed narrative scenes drawn in pencil, sometimes with secondary figural elements in the margins. The scenes are rendered in great detail; the representational style tends towards the naive but the compositions are quite accomplished. Each scene is accompanied by verse, written by Kreuzer in a miniscule hand. The narrative is outwardly simple. A miserly youth, finding his suspenders worn out, journeys to the city to buy a new pair. In a shop he is shown some that prove a perfect fit, but he ultimately fails to buy them because he finds the price too dear. In returning home along the railroad tracks he narrowly avoids being hit by a train, and tears his sagging pants as he scrambles over a fence. That night he sees a pair of suspenders, radiant, in a dream, but wakes to find himself in his old predicament. The tale is humorous and patently moralizing, more like a fable than a mock epic, but the story in the local paper that provoked it remains for the present a mystery. The moralizing content is underscored by marginal figures outside the narrative scenes: i.e., a man in a tug-of-war with the Devil, each holding an end of a pair of suspenders. The inside of the back cover bears the scribbled pencil notation "March 20th 1872," less than three weeks after the article mentioned in the front of the pamphlet.

Dates

  • Creation: 1872

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

There are no access restrictions on this item.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright status for collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Biographical / Historical

The author can be identified only by the surname Kreuzer and the monogram MK, which appear on the booklet's cover. An inscription on the verso of the cover, reading "For 'Key' to the following - See local column Lawrence Journal. March 2d '72" provides a possible association of the author with Lawrence, Essex County, Massachusetts.

Extent

1 item

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

A homemade pamphlet with eight pages of elaborate pencil illustrations and accompanying verse, telling a moralizing tale of a young man's search for a new pair of suspenders.

Title
Suspenders Manuscript
Status
Completed
Author
Debra Dochuk and George Rugg
Date
2017
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the University of Notre Dame Rare Books & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
102 Hesburgh Library
Notre Dame IN 46556
574-631-0290