Member Profile: Liz Bartlett

Editor's Note: Liz, a long time collector, has supported World Bookmark Day in recent years by meeting, in person or virtually, with other collectors.  She also has two distinctive collecting interests to showcase.  

1. Tell us about yourself – where you are from, your occupation, etc.

​My name is Liz Bartlett, I am 70 years old and a retired primary school teacher.  Originally from the East coast of England, a tiny village called Great Bentley in Essex, but moved to the beautiful south coast of the UK when I married Keith, 50 years ago.  We have lived in Weymouth, Dorset, ever since.  We have two adult sons, two delightful daughters-in-law and five splendid grandchildren.  I love to garden, read, knit and a lot of my time is taken up with a small 13th century church, of which I am churchwarden.  This photo shows me with a cross-stitch bookmark made by my mother when she was a girl.  It is quite a precious one.

2. How did you start collecting bookmarks?  Do you remember your first bookmark?

​I started collecting bookmarks in 1974, when we were first married and started to travel together.  We had little money and leather bookmarks were a cheap but pleasant souvenir of the places we visited.  I was working as a clerk in a local history museum at the time and instigated a set of bookmarks linked to the museum, which became very popular.  

We started to look in charity and second hand shops to widen the collection and that was where I found the first Stevengraphs of my collection.  I thought it was particularly beautiful and also had a young son called Steven.  Eventually, when we both had better jobs, these were the type of bookmarks that I looked for, but continued to collect, and be given, lots of other types.  In one job lot I found two memorial bookmarks which started me on another part of the collection, along with sets from Scottish Widows, local Weymouth ones and old advertising ones (these last two because of my job at the museum).'  ​

3. Do you have any favorite types or special emphasis in your collection?

The emphasis now is definitely Stevengraph types, of which I found there were several manufacturers. These photos show the type of loom on which they were made and the huge punched cards that change the designs.  Thomas Stevens made them from 1863 to 1938, although Thomas himself died in 1888.  

Thomas Stevens also went to the United States of America and I have found quite a few American ones.  An example is the one with the Star Spangled Banner.  When you think that the loom was using hole punched cards for each detail and look at the music on this one, it must have taken the designers a long time to set up the loom for each design.  There are hundreds of designs for Stevens' company.  ​

​Regarding Stevengraphs and other woven bookmarks by manufacturers such as Bollans, Welch and Lenton, I look for ones that are in good condition, preferably with their silk tassel.  Sometimes I get duplicates in a different colour or that are in better condition.  I am looking for the nursery rhyme set at the moment as I only have two and they are often rather expensive.  Any that still have their original backing sheet is a treasure.  Really I just look for designs that I like, that are bright and that I don't already have an example of.  There is a huge variety of greeting bookmarks for birthdays, Christmas, New Year and particular celebrations such as Bar Mitzvahs.  He also produced some for celebrations and centenaries.  As a regular church-member, I have also been interested in those that celebrate preachers and Christian texts and hymns.  
There are over 820 designs from Thomas Stevens alone so I am unlikely to get the full set! 

I have used the Stevengraph silks site and have contributed examples that were not previously photographed.  I also used the site to download information pages about bookmarks that I have to add to my knowledge.  
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The Stevengraph Collectors also deal with his pictures, and postcards.  I have one or two examples of these, but I have not used the site a great deal.  I always look through the Bookmark Collectors quarterly magazine and have contributed to that twice.  

Note: Stevengraph Silks is a site illustrating bookmark designs by Stevens and other weavers; Stevengraphs and the Stevengraph Collectors Association also has information and examples on bookmarks. 

The memorial ribbons have a slightly different interest.  I go onto family history sites and try to find relatives of those mentioned on these ribbons and send them scans.  As these examples illustrate, they often have interesting genealogical information about the deceased which those researching family history may find interesting.   The map shows the small area of UK where they were produced.

4. What is the most unusual bookmark in your collection?

In the Stevengraph collection, I like one that still has the vendor's information paper attached to it,

In the memorial set, I have one that has a photograph on it which makes it rather poignant.  I also have some that are related which were collected at different times.  This type of ribbon seems to be particularly linked to the north of England between late 1800s and the early 1900s.​

5. How do you acquire your bookmarks?

Most of my bookmarks are now acquired online on sites such as eBay.  Sometimes friends and family find them and give them to me.​

6. How many bookmarks do you have (an estimate)?

The whole collection is about 1000, but the speciality groups number about 100 Stevengraphs, about 80 memorial ribbons.  I still have boxes of others and folders of sets such as the Scottish Widows, 

And many Victorian cross-stitch...

7. How do you organize, display and store your collection?

The collection is in plastic folders and then in ring binders.

8. What do you enjoy about IFOB?  Anything you would like to see IFOB do in the future?

I just like browsing other people's collections and interests.  It is always good to know that there are others out there with similar interests.  My family think I am barmy!

9. What did you do to celebrate World Bookmark Day this year? Any plans for next year?

I plan to try Zoom again and perhaps get a few more folk involved.  There were only four of us last year.  Easier for me than travelling.  I don't like driving.​

10. Anything else you would like to share?

I belong to the UK Bookmark Society which I find very interesting.  

I also give talks to local groups about bookmarks which is why I have kept lots of other types as examples to pass around. ​To lighten the mood a little (as I try to do when I preach in church or give talks) when I start a bookmark talk I usually start with a rubber banana!  I have lots of examples of different materials but this one always gets a laugh!  I also tell the story that a local librarian told me.  They always give books a shake before putting them back on the shelf and the most unusual one she ever discovered was a dry rasher of bacon!  Not recommended as it tends to spoil the page somewhat.

11. Do you have any advice for those who are just beginning to collect bookmarks?

Advice, find bookmarks that you really like to look at, otherwise they are just filed away.  Keep them out of the light.  Only buy what you can afford.  Stevengraphs range from about £10 to £100s.  It can become an expensive habit if you just buy everything.​