1923 UMaine "Roaring Twenties" College Scrapbook – Rare Bootleg & Sports Time Capsule!

Description: Step back over a century into the peak of the Roaring Twenties with this exceptionally well-preserved, museum-quality collegiate scrapbook archive. This album belonged to Howard Hamlin "Jake" Small, a prominent student, athlete, and member of the Sigma Phi Sigma ($\Sigma \Phi \Sigma$) fraternity at the University of Maine, Orono, Class of 1923.

Published by the College Memory Book Co. of Chicago as "The National Memory and Fellowship Book," this heavy, dark blue grained-cloth album is a masterclass in historical preservation. Unlike typical scrapbooks that contain mere newspaper clippings, "Jake" Small meticulously curated a highly tactile, 3D record of his undergraduate years. The colors remain incredibly vibrant, and the collection stands entirely intact, unfiltered, and un-picked.

📖 Comprehensive Page-by-Page Inventory & Unique Artifacts:

• The Emblematic Cover & Flyleaf: The dark blue textured cover features a striking, stylized cream-colored collegiate "M" in the center, alongside his stamped nickname, "Jake" Small. The spine proudly features the gold-stamped Greek letters of his fraternity, $\Sigma \Phi \Sigma$. The internal title page is fully filled out in fountain pen, identifying him as part of the Class of 1923.

• The "Kind Friends" Autograph & Nickname Roster: A stunningly preserved, hand-signed directory of Jake's classmates dated Autumn 1923. This ledger captures the raw personality of 1920s students, listing their hometowns (ranging from Bar Harbor, Maine to Wichita, Kansas), humorous personal ambitions ("To remain at the Univ. indefinitely," "To pass this year's line-up"), "Happy Thoughts," and whimsical hand-drawn caricature doodles next to their names.

• The Rare Textile Holy Grail (Freshman Beanie): A pristine, flattened tan wool/felt 1923 Freshman "Beanie" Cap—a mandatory uniform required of all first-year students during campus hazing traditions. It remains pinned directly next to his original, typewriter-inked U.S. Military Corps Assignment Slip for Company F, a requirement for male students at land-grant universities.

• 1923 "Beat Bowdoin" Gameday Megaphone Flat: An exceptional, un-assembled paper megaphone souvenir from the historic November 3, 1923, Maine vs. Bowdoin football game. It features a handwritten sports grid meticulously filled out by Jake showing Maine’s 27-6 blowout victory, surrounded by beautifully preserved vintage advertisements for Bangor and Orono retailers (The Rines Co., Campbell's Sporting Goods, John T. Clark Co.).

• Athletic Records & Team Photography: Features printed official season scorecards documenting the 1923 Football and Basketball Team Records (including games against Dartmouth, Syracuse, Colgate, and New Hampshire). Pasted alongside is an original silver-gelatin photograph of the Freshman Cross-Country Teamposing beneath a giant varsity "M," as well as crisp historical group photos of the team squads and Head Coach Murphy in full period athletic gear.

• Prohibition-Era Contraband Evidence: A rebellious social history page featuring the neatly sliced and flattened gold-and-silver lead foil neck-wrapper from a smuggled, bootlegged bottle of E. & J. Burke Dublin Irish Whiskey, surrounded by secretive handwritten question marks drawn by Jake to note its illicit nature.

• 100-Year-Old Consumer Advertising & Candy Packing: Pristine packaging cut-outs from 1923 luxuries, including a Bayer-Tablets Aspirin tin, an original Lucky Strike Cigarettes cardboard flat featuring the newly introduced "It's Toasted" slogan, a rare Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. box seal stamp, and premium paper seal labels for Wilbur's Chocolate Cameos and Wilburettes.

• 1923 Halloween "Fall House Party" Memorabilia: A beautifully preserved seasonal display featuring a hand-creased, string-bound pumpkin invitation card commemorating the Sigma Phi Sigma "Fall House Party on Nov. 3, 1923" (the exact night of the massive football victory over Bowdoin), a pristine Dennison Mfg. Co. die-cut pumpkin decoration, and a preserved cigar kept as a gameday victory trophy marked "Maine 19 - Night 23."

• Rare Transit & University Ephemera: Includes an original, serial-numbered Student Season Ticket from the Spring Semester of 1923, an official 27th Annual Track and Field Meet Program (Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Maine), a 5-ride coupon book from the Cumberland County Power & Light Co. trolley system, and an original American Railway Express Co. shipping receipt documenting the arrival of Jake's personal trunk to campus.

🔍 Condition Report:

The scrapbook is in excellent antique condition. Because it spent the last century closed and shielded from environmental light, the internal pages have experienced very little silvering or fading. The fountain pen ink signatures remain exceptionally bold, the paper ephemera edges are sharp, and fragile textile elements like the wool beanie and the original string ties remain securely attached and structurally sound. The exterior cover shows a beautiful, authentic patina with minor handling wear to the corners and spine edges appropriate for its age.

Collector's Note: This is an uncommonly complete, narrative-driven archive. Rather than being broken up for individual ephemera sales, it is being offered entirely intact as a singular historical record. It represents a premier acquisition piece for University of Maine archives, New England athletic historians, or high-end curators of 1920s Americana.