Note: This "From the Archives" page features the full, digitized versions of the Lilian L. Kidman Album and the Ella Kidman Album. As these autograph albums were made by two sisters, they have many similarities. A little more detailed than the other featured album pages, this page ends with comparisons between the two autograph albums' contents.

Creator: Lilian Leigh Kidman

Creation date(s): 1898-1928

Genre: Autograph album

Physical description: N/A

Description: This friendship autograph album was owned by Lilian Leigh Kidman (1879-?), and was created in England. The contents of the album include ink designs drawn by Kidman, often depicting fantastical elements such as elves, or moons and suns with faces. These designs also feature deliberately blank spaces and compartments for the addition of signatures and inscriptions. Artwork, inscriptions, and autographs from Kidman’s friends and family are collected in the album. The album also features many inkblot signatures. Notably, Lilian Kidman’s autograph album matches the one owned by her younger sister, Ella. The sisters’ respective albums have many similarities, suggesting that they may have worked collaboratively on their custom designs. Additionally, Lilian and Ella Kidman had mutual friends, and their albums contain similar entries from their shared connections. The album itself is commercially made and was given to Lilian Kidman as a Christmas gift in 1897.

Part of: Kidman family fonds (SC624)

For more information, see the finding aid description.

Creator: Ella Kidman

Creation date(s): 1897-1930

Genre: Autograph album

Physical description: N/A

Description: This friendship autograph album was owned by Ella Kidman (1880-?), and was created in England. The contents of the album include ink and pencil drawings by Kidman, often depicting flowers or plants. These drawings also often feature deliberately blank spaces and compartments for the addition of signatures and inscriptions. Artwork, inscriptions, and autographs from Kidman’s friends and family are collected in the album. The album features many inkblot signatures. Notably, Ella Kidman’s autograph album matches the one owned by her older sister, Lilian. The sisters’ respective albums have many similarities, suggesting that they may have worked collaboratively on their custom designs. Additionally, Ella and Lilian Kidman had mutual friends, and their albums contain similar entries from their shared connections. The album itself is commercially made and was given to Ella Kidman as a Christmas gift in 1897.

Part of: Kidman family fonds (SC624)

For more information, see the finding aid description.

The Kidman sisters received their matching, commercially produced albums as Christmas gifts in 1897. The similarities between the two albums' contents suggest that the two sisters often worked collaboratively on their album designs, and that they often approached the same friends for autographs, inscriptions, and drawings. The following images draw attention to many of the albums' notable shared features.

Lilian and Ella Kidman both drew their own versions of this sunrise illustration in their respective albums. It is unclear if they came up with the design together, one sister copied the other, or they both copied the illustration from another source.

Both sisters drew multiple illustrations in their albums such as the two featured above, deliberately leaving blank spaces for their friends to write inscriptions. The sunrise illustration (discussed above) is another example of this type of design.

To design these pages, Lilian and Ella Kidman likely traced the outline of a calling card several times in order to create this layered effect. This particular design shows up throughout both sisters' albums.

The sisters evidently shared a social network, and often asked the same friends to sign their albums. The above illustrations, both in the style of medieval manuscripts, were at least partially designed by the same person. The illustration in Lilian Kidman's album is signed "F.S. & F.W," and the illustration in Ella Kidman's album is signed "F.S."

The Kidman sisters shared a friend who had a fondness for music puns. Lilian Kidman's album: "Advice to a lady, B natural. Advice to a gentleman, B sharp." Ella Kidman's album: "Sometimes B sharp. Never B flat. Always B natural."

Almost-identical inscriptions from both of the Kidman autograph albums. This is just one example of the quirky inscriptions from signers who joke about not knowing what to write.

Both sisters collected inkblot signatures in their albums, and these two examples were created on the same day, by the same friend.

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