Imagine you are making a scrapbook for your own community like the ones Cussy distributes to the people of Troublesome. What would you include? Do you think these materials were helpful to Cussy's library patrons?

Imagine you are making a scrapbook for your own community like the ones Cussy distributes to the people of Troublesome. What would you include? Do you think these materials were helpful to Cussy's library patrons?

I would include pictures and articles about the history of our town. We have many historical buildings with interesting stories. The patrons that she lent the scrapbooks to loved them. Fun and entertaining for them.

I loved the scrapbook idea. I’d include lots of recipes and practical uses of local plants and herbs.

Recipes first of all, sewing tips, carpentry and other household repair tips, possibly games to play that could go back and forth between readers.

I think Cussy did a fine job. I would not second guess and Monday morning quarter about her. Her clients were fortunate to have Cussy.

I can't really think of what articles would be relevant to my community, not like the ones were for Cussy's patrons. With the internet there is really no need for something like that. But it was a huge help to Cussy's people. I

I was actually thinking today about the point JillL just brought up: In a way, the community scrapbook fulfilled the same need that Facebook and other community-based corners of the internet do now. There's a lot of tip-based online content that gets shared both inside and outside of communities.

I might share pictures or tips about local places, like my favorite walking spots, and this discussion makes me want to learn more about things like plant life in my area—foraging, when certain foods are in season, etc.

For Cussy’s patrons, the scrapbooks provided essential tips and information to help extremely impoverished people make it through the day-to-day drudgery of their lives. I don’t think modern-day equivalents would serve the same purpose. Although having just had a brush with a hurricane, I can imagine that if one lost power for days, it would be nice to have a scrapbook filled with useful tips on how to survive without modern conveniences!

I think today's scrapbooks are often on the internet...Pinterest, Facebook, etc. That is fine for those of us with computers and the ability to use them. How about those who don't have that sort of access. Remember that most libraries today offer computer use to patrons...21st century scrapbooks, perhaps.

I love this question. It reminds me of the heyday of the handmade zine, not to mention contemporary blogs. I imagine, like print magazines and online blogs for us modern folk, these compendiums of useful information and cultural documentation were immensely useful to Cussy's library patrons. If I were compiling a scrapbook for my community, I'd include hand-drawn maps, recipes, how-tos, 1930s versions of person-on-the-street interviews, handprints of local schoolchildren using an ink/dye made from a local dye source, scraps of fabric and the typical uses for each, weather reports, water-witching reports/charts, footprints and other tracking signs from regional wildlife, popular knots tied in twine, examples of stitches sewn onto fabric scraps, a handwritten page with the alphabet, and the list goes on ...

I would include photos of our historic sites, including the railroad museum, churches, some restaurants housed in historic buildings and schools that were built a century ago. The scrapbook would include local recipes and samples of local artists’ work, including pictures of quilts, poetry and pottery.

The scrapbooks must have served to connect the people of Troublesome Creek who lived in isolation from one another. The books provided a means to interact and to share their knowledge and skills with each other.