1970s Atlanta Debutante Club Scrapbook

Atlanta: The Atlanta Debutante Club, 1973-1974.

Hardcover. Beginning with her formal invitation to debut by the Atlanta Debutante Club, founded 1911, and The Atlanta Journal and Constitution's announcement of the 44 "belles" of the season, this scrapbook by one of the 1973-1974 Atlanta debutantes holds over a hundred pieces of ephemera illustrating in vivid color high society in 1970s Atlanta. Items include handwritten letters from family congratulating the debutante, the formal invitation in original envelope with Eisenhower postage stamp for the Bal de Salut, the inaugural event of the season and first appearance of the belles, benefitting Egleston Hospital for Children, as well as the Harvest Ball at the Piedmont Driving Club where the debutantes made their official debut, both in original envelopes, various colorful and creative invitations from events ranging from a fete thrown by The Phoenix Society at the High Museum of Art to a party at The Great South East Music Hall Emporium, dinner and dancing at Dante's Down the Hatch at Underground Atlanta, a casbah-themed debut party, an "astro lunch" featuring astrologer Maxine Taylor as entertainment, an invitation to a party at the Piedmont Driving Club in the guise of an Atlanta Constitution article, along with newspaper clippings describing invitations and events in detail, photographs, and even a preserved fern. In full, 59 items mounted on 22 out of 49 pages, rectos only, with an additional 46 laid in invitations, cards, and newspaper clippings, including a 16-page "Debutante Section" from The Northside/Vinings/Sandy Springs Neighbor June 27, 1973 issue. This 1973-1974 scrapbook offers an inviting view into the exclusive debutante society of 1970s Atlanta, full of finely printed and handmade party invitations, both formal and novelty, and jaw-dropping amounts of newspaper coverage. It's especially interesting to consider the view afforded of the, to all appearances, insular world of a wealthy white Southern debutante entering high society in Atlanta in the same year as Maynard Jackson, the first Black mayor of Atlanta (and of any major Southern city), took office.

12 5/8" X 9 3/4". Original scrapbook, presented to the debutantes by the Auxiliary of the Henrietta Egleston Hospital for Children. White cloth over padded boards, lettered in gilt to upper board. Moderate wear to binding, with soiling to cloth and stress to spine from additional laid in contents. Toning to versos and to newspaper clippings. Overall in good condition. Good. Item #6013

Price: $300.00