Strader Family

Dateline: September 22, 2003. My great-uncle Bud died today. I didn't know him well, but did meet him a few times throughout our lives. The last time I saw him was at my great-grandmother's--his mother's-- funeral in September of 1984. "Uncle Bud" was my grandmother's brother. So he was really my great-uncle. But we all called him "Uncle Bud." I'll always remember him for his thick white hair and bushy--really bushy--eyebrows. I remember him laughing a lot. I don't really know much about his life. I believe he was married four or five times. He had one son, name unknown to me, who died years ago at the age of 52, of cancer. [...]

Autograph books have been around for centuries. They originally were a way for students to collect signatures of classmates and instructors. Most often, students would allow friends and instructors to use the blank pages of their bibles to sign their names, but over time, books with only blank pages were created with the sole purpose of being used for capturing signatures. By the end of the 16th century, autograph books were common throughout Germany. For academics, autograph books were used not only for gathering sentimental notes, but also as a way to gather correspondence of fellow colleagues. Although the popularity of autograph books started in Europe, by the 18th century, Americans had caught on [...]