MOHEGAN LAKE SCHOOL BOYS MILITARY ACADEMY NY 1919-1927 SCRAPBOOK
Item #925
Ira Strang, a dedicated student at the young boys military academy of Mohegan Lake School in New York compiled this scrapbook during the years 1919-1927.
Ira “Shrimp” Strang was the Captain of the Midgets (junior varsity) football team during his early years. He showed great potential and promising plays, and was soon moved up to varsity. During his time at Mohegan he gained several accolades: Captain of the J.V. football team, Sergeant of “A” Company, Captain Adjutant, and Treasurer of his senior class.
The majority of memoranda within are newspaper clippings to do with sport at this Junior R.O.T.C. facility. The contents of these articles address not only football, but school dances, banquets, hazing, weather conditions, construction, fire damage, orchestral events, , and celebration of these young cadets.
257 photographs throughout depict a Strang and his fellow cadets growing up at Mohegan. These static frames show boys being boys: chummy, climbing trees, smoking pipes; playing sport, performing drills, etc. All photographs are captioned in black-ink script. Some captions provided: “Three Musketeers”, “The Angels”, “The Two bums”, while others name and nickname those photographed subjects.
A fire struck the West Hall in 1921. Six photographs display the aftermath. Again, disaster struck the smoking room few years later, as indicated by several photographs near the back of the album.
Other ephemera throughout include: invitations, ticket stubs, sports score cards, a typeset guide to a competitive drill practice, school chants, a sugary candy, two felt letters “A” and “M”, a card from the Young Men’s Christian Association, one copy of the Moheganite from 1927, and one stray item of a list of dinner guests from 1954. Glued to the back cover is a preliminary certificate presented to Ira Strang after the completion of his elementary education in 1919.
The top outermost corner of each page is numerated with blue-ink stamps. 213 pages total/106 leaves. The album is 8” x 10 1/2” and 3” thick. All materials are glued to the pages of this thick album. The pages are blue-lined composition paper. The binding is threadbare. The album as a whole is not cohesive, though sections of the album are intact. There is edge wear (tears and stains). The acidity of newspaper has stained the page opposite. A sugary candy from the senior was glued into the album and has since melted causing damage to a couple of pages. Ten leaves near the back of the book are blank which denote a lapse in time, picking up again in February 1926 (though this section is out of order and does have items from years previous.) The front cover is detached and the outer spine is gone.
Still an interesting look at a Military Academy over one hundred years ago.
Price: $400.00