This small booklet was among the many interesting objects, images and documents that Laura Varilek was kind enough to share with us. I don’t know anything about it. By 1919, Maplewood was set up pretty well schoolwise having just constructed a new, large high school a couple of years earlier.
I don’t know what purpose this small book served. Any guesses?
If you would like to have a look at much of what Laura has contributed to our historic record, here are the links.
https://40southnews.com/maplewood-history-a-followup-to-rarer-than-rare/
https://40southnews.com/maplewood-history-being-made-or-at-least-re-lived/
https://40southnews.com/maplewood-history-previous-unseen-images-of-maplewoods-second-high-school/
https://40southnews.com/maplewood-history-the-bruno-farm/
That’s an impressive collection. We are in your debt, Laura. Thank you so much.
Doug Houser February 20, 2023
That seems to make sense Jeff. I think they made these up for themselves as a remembrance book.
I think “Departmentsl school” just means that it was part of the Missouri Department of Elementary Education system. I have heard schools in the early 1900s in St. Genevieve MO also referred to in the same way by my great grandfather and his sisters. This differentiated that school from the Catholic school that is also in that town. It would be similar to the use of the word “Public” that we are accustomed to hearing now.
Your supposition seems reasonable, Jeff. The unusual part of this mystery is that this is the only one of these small booklets that I’ve ever seen. Perhaps there were only a few of the classes that made one?