Autograph fan, circa 1900. Gift of Elizabeth E. Perkins, 1983. Brick Store Museum Collection, 83.19.4.1 .

This fan was owned by Marion B. Wentworth (1885-1941) in the early 1900s. It bears the signatures of her dancing partners from a University of Maine dance. Autograph fans were popular in the early part of the 20th century. Users would collect signatures on either the pleats or the sticks of a fan as a memento of a special event such as a graduation or gala.

This fan is among more than 130 hand-held decorative fans of all types in the Museum's permanent collections.

# # #