Get That Autograph!

“Between the present and the past there exists no more intimate personal connection than an autograph. It is the living symbol of its author.”
Thomas Madigan, renowned autograph dealer, 1930

Collecting signatures in albums, yearbooks, or on t-shirts has long been a way of preserving and carrying on special connections. We also collect signatures from celebrities, teammates, or admired leaders in order to freeze a moment in time and carry it into the future.  As early as the Renaissance, people began collecting the signatures of friends and family members in special albums which they might display at home. In the nineteenth century, autograph collecting became even more widespread, with amateur collectors forming autograph clubs and dealers making autographs into a business.