The Francis Stanton Scrapbook

This intricately constructed scrapbook is part of the Stills, Posters and Paper Collections in the Moving Image Department. Its owner repurposed an unused business ledger as a scrapbook to document the films she went to see in Rochester theatres from 1929 to 1931. She meticulously cut out illustrations from fan magazines and pasted them onto the page in a multi-layered, interactive way; what may look like one large photo actually has several smaller photos underneath. She even had her own rating system with different colored stars, from a small red star (bad) to a large silver star (exceptionally good) — an early film critic! Not only was she documenting the films she saw, she also used the scrapbook to collect autographs of movie stars and other notable people visiting Rochester, including Irene Rich, Rod La Rocque, Vilma Banky, Rudy Vallee, Helen Kane, and Jack Dempsey. A wonderful visual record of movie-going!