In order to reach back and connect humanity to our past, it is important that we treasure not only the nostalgic aesthetic of certain time periods, but information and proof that lets us know that these people existed. Marginalia provides a look into certain individuals whose names were lost across history, and only exist in things such as signatures, annotations and drawings. As our society continues to fade out “marked up” literature in favor of that which is in more of a “mint condition,” we lose a particular value and charm that comes from the people who made the certain time period what it was.

As I searched the Sojourner Truth Library for these findings, I stumbled across a particular book called “The English Novel.” As a Creative Writing major, I know from first hand that it’s tradition to annotate in English textbooks and novels specifically, due to the importance of looking back into the text and relating particular pieces of information to what you could be writing and learning about. When I opened this book, I didn’t find any annotations inside the actual text – rather, I found a signature at the very beginning – in cursive ink, it reads:

“H.C. Martin

May 15 –

from H.N.M.”

I find it fascinating that this could have possibly been given as a gift. Who, or what, is H.N.M.? Was it a relative? Or could it have simply been the initials of a bookshop or company that H.C. Martin bought it from themself? I decided to research who H.C. Martin could have been, but was unable to find anything of substantial evidence. The information I found was a Ms. H.C. Martin. I find myself hoping that it was a woman, because it’s inspiring to know that there were women learning to educate themselves in a sexist society.