The Betty Mermelstein Collection features two exceptionally well captioned photo album scrapbooks and assorted ephemera. The albums document the teenage years of Betty Mermelstein of Natchez, home to the oldest Jewish community in Mississippi, with its first service reportedly held in 1800.
Betty attended Natchez High School where she was a clarinetist and member of the pep squad. These albums appear to have been compiled around her senior year in 1946, but some of the photos are earlier. Many photos depict her life at school showing her large group of friends on picnics, primping for class, around campus, frolicking at the beach, a horse farm and more. Others show her extended family, Betty posed in front of her parents retail shop, and road trips. Many of the captions provide extra detail regarding what was going on before the photo, events after them, and her personal thoughts, both about herself and the lives who touched her.
At least 50 photos show men in uniform and a scattered series shows her friend, Sam Schwarz, serving in France, Germany and England during World War II.
From the collection: Scrapbook 2, page 23
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Scrapbook 1: School Days
Betty Rose Mermelstein
Photos and ephemera from Betty Mermelstein's "school days, 1934-1946", including her senior year at Natchez High School (Miss.), 1945-46.
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Scrapbook 2: Family and ephemera
Betty Rose Mermelstein
Photos of Betty Mermelstein and her family, as well as men in uniform, including her friend, Sam Schwarz, serving in France, Germany and England during World War II. Ephemera includes: souvenir program from Mississippi High School Band Contest, 1946; souvenir program from the Natchez High School Senior Class and Dancing Clubs "Dance Review and Two One Act Plays"; greeting cards, visiting cards; souvenir undergarment from Hollywood, Calif.; invitations; American Red Cross certification card; party napkins