MS-262
Margaret B. Kline Scrapbook Collection 1904-1909
Introduction
The Margaret B. Kline Scrapbook was brought to the Piqua Public Library by Ms. Evelyn Mahrt in October 2017 and was accessioned into the Piqua Public Library Archives and Special Collections in November 2017. The scrapbook is intact and is housed in a single Hollinger box containing the scrapbook and eleven files of loose items found inside the scrapbook. Ownership of the scrapbook is transferred to the Piqua Public Library Archives and Special Collections and the scrapbook is available to our patrons and researchers in the Local History Department. There are no known restrictions on the use of these materials and the copyright rests with the Piqua Public Library.
Margaret B. Kline was born October 31, 1891to William Kline and Emma Snider Kline. William Kline died in 1895 and in that same year, Emma Kline became an invalid. Margaret was cared for by a nurse until the age of six and then by a housekeeper until the age of 16. By the end of the first semester of her senior year in high school, Margaret had accumulated sufficient credits to graduate but decided to remain in school and take more classes during the second semester (winter, spring of 1910). During the second semester Mr. George Dietrich asked Margaret to substitute teach a first grade class at Staunton Street School for a teacher who was ill. Later in the spring, Margaret was asked to fill out the remainder of the year as a substitute teacher at Spring Street School in the first grade. The summer after she graduated, she took and passed the teacher exam and was hired to teach at Spring Street School under the cadet program. Miss Kline taught at Spring Street School for 10 years and then became the principal at Favorite Hill School where she remained for the next ten years. When the principal at Spring Street School resigned, Miss Kline was asked to replace her as a teaching principal. Miss Kline remained at Spring Street for twenty-two years as principal and during that time she taught every grade, first through sixth, but mainly taught fourth grade. She retired as principal in 1952 after a career spanning forty-two years.
The scrapbook is the work of a teenage girl and reflects the life of a teenage girl in the first decade of the Twentieth Century. The scrapbook ends at Christmas 1909, probably because as Margaret began to teach she had no time for her scrapbook. The scrapbook is an excellent source of information on teen life in the period.
Scope and Content
The Margaret B. Kline Scrapbook Collection is divided into the following two series:
SERIES I: Scrapbook – Box 1, File 1
SERIES II: Loose pictures and document found in the scrapbook – Box 1, Files 2-12
Container List
BOX 1
SERIES I: Scrapbook
File
1 The Margaret B. Kline Scrapbook, 1904-1909: This is the scrapbook of a teenage high school girl. It is full of pictures of friends, especially girl friends that were in Margaret’s class at Piqua High School – she graduated in 1910 from the second high school built on the College Street site. The scrapbook contains dance cards, dance and party invitations, programs to productions at May’s Opera House, high school football, basketball and baseball photos, tickets and other memorabilia. The scrapbook does not contain the usual graduation invitations, announcements, programs, possibly because in the second half of her senior year Margaret was substitute teaching in first grade classes at Staunton Street School and at Spring Street School. The scrapbook is an excellent record of the life of a teenage girl in the first decade of the 20th Century.
SERIES II: Loose pictures and document found in the scrapbook
File
2 Photograph – Margaret Kline, approximate age eight years old.
3 Photograph – Margaret Kline, color fashion formal portrait, c. 1920s.
4 Photograph – 5” x 7” school portrait of Margaret Kline, c. 1950 taken when she was the principal of the Spring Street School.
5 Laminated newspaper article from The Piqua Daily Call, February 20, 1980. The article was written by Ruth Reed and included an approximate 5 x 7 photograph. The article is an excellent source of information on the life of Margaret Kline.
6 A composite of photographs of the 36 members of the Piqua High School Class of 1910. The individual photos are numbered and identified on the back of the composite. Margaret Kline is #15 in the composite.
7 A group of workers outside of a factory building – possible Cron-Kills workers and the man in the first row right end is possibly William Kline. The photo is c. 1890.
8 Post card photograph of a man holding the halter of a horse – possibly William Kline, father of Margaret Kline, c. 1893.
9 List of the Piqua High School Class of 1910 with addresses, possibly a working list for a 70th Class reunion. Of the 36 class members, twelve are known to be dead according to the list.
10 Four page hand written instructions for “Feeding the Birds”
11 Piqua Public Schools report card for Marion Kline (brother of Margaret Kline), fourth grade in the school year 1883-1884.
12 Miscellaneous newspaper clippings and a blank “Award of Merit” card.