Cover: While many nineteenth-century scrapbooks were created using scrap paper or repurposed catalogs or ledger books, Prudence Person's scrapbook is store-bought, with the word "Scrapbook" printed on the cover. Prudence seems to have personalized the scrapbook cover by adding die-cut illustrations. Based on the contents, it seems Prudence began her scrapbook sometime in the late 1860s or 1870s.

Page 1: The first page of the scrapbook contains a newspaper announcement of Prudence's marriage to Willie Mangum Person and a pressed plant, perhaps from her wedding bouquet. Prudence married late in life, at age 41, and there are many items in the scrapbook that predate her marriage. This suggests that she may have left the first page of the scrapbook blank and added these items later.

Page 2: This page contains a few poems, a picture, and a number of advice columns about how to be a better person. It is a highly typical page: most pages in the scrapbook contain some combination of these items and themes. 

Page 3: This page contains a number of clippings of a religious nature, including a hymn and an excerpt from a sermon by the famous English minister Charles Spurgeon. Prudence and her family were Methodist, and some of the items in her scrapbook reflect that. But in the nineteenth century even sectarian magazines reprinted items from other denominations' publications. One of the items on this page, for instance, is reprinted from the Baptist Reflector. Prudence obviously found the text meaningful even though she was not Baptist herself.

Page 4: Some of the pages in Prudence's scrapbook are themed; she would collect images and texts about the same topic and group them together. This page has a nature theme. It includes a colorful postcard of mountain scenery and a few poems and short essays about the beauty and restorative power of nature.

Page 5: A large portion of Prudence's scrapbook is filled with poetry. This page, for instance, includes both an item by a local poet (whom Prudence may have known) and poetry that circulated in national publications.

Page 6: On this page Prudence has collected a number of essays and poems about how to be a better person. The pieces admonish readers not to worry over things they can't change; to count their blessings; to work diligently; and to be careful of the words they use. 

Page 7: As with the previous page, this page contains a combination of poetry and short essays dealing with religious and moral themes. One poem is by Longfellow, a famous American poet who was widely reprinted in the nineteenth century and whose works appear throughout the scrapbook.

Page 8: Prudence's scrapbook contains many illustrations. Some, like this one, are clipped from newspapers or magazines; others are postcards or die-cut illustrations. Prudence must have especially liked this image since she devoted a whole page to it.

Page 9: This page includes mostly poetry but also, in the lower left corner, an amusing story about a child's view of winter. Prudence included many jokes and humorous stories in her scrapbook. This page is also interesting because some of its contents, including the "winter" story, seem to be pasted over earlier clippings. Apparently when Prudence ran out of pages or got tired of reading a particular clipping she pasted over it with something new.