A Keepsake Someone Forgot To Remember

This episode centers on a small “Forget Me Not” booklet from around the 1950s or ’60s. A congratulatory keepsake written as if from a new baby’s perspective.

Page by page, it moves through everyday moments, appropriate to the time, capturing the early pieces of a life just beginning. A lot has changed when it comes to parenting.

It was meant to be a record. Something to be held on to. Only it wasn’t. 

Website: https://retellseller.com/vintage-keepsake-baby-book/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/PSMM141EP-k

Newspapers.com Free Trial
Enjoy a free trial & start exploring what you're interested in

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

A Keepsake Someone Forgot To Remember

Hey everybody. Welcome to Retell Seller, an ephemera podcast where I uncover forgotten stories and the ephemera people leave behind. I'm Angie a reseller of 10 years, and I'll share one of those snippets with you. Let's see what today's find has to say. 

Now this little booklet I have doesn't fall into the never meant to last category as it was meant to last, offering congratulations to having a new baby. This one is unused and was stored away for decades, and I don't recall where I came across it but, it's a six by four or so fifteen page booklet.

The thick card stock cover is in color and has four blue adhesive photo corner images made to look real. A smaller rectangle image is in the center, uh, and it's green with black lettering saying CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW BABY. There's a cartoon looking baby with an over-sized head, lots of blonde hair, eyes closed, long eyelashes, rosy cheeks, holding a flower.

The baby is wearing a white cloth diaper sitting on top of a wooden block and you can see the letters A and B. A white Gerber daisy is in front of the block alongside a metal safety pin. The back of the booklet towards the bottom says, Forget Me Not with an image of a dove and a flower.

Copyright Cleveland, USA 25 G 2795N. The Forget-Me-Not Card Line was first introduced in 1939 Under American Greetings Publisher, formerly Saperstein Greeting Card Company, 

Saperstein Greeting Card Company was founded in 1906 by Jacob Saperstein, who initially sold cards from a horse drawn cart. The business remained family run with his sons joining early and helping secure major contracts like a $24,000 postcard deal in 1928. Which would be the equivalent of $477,755.85 today. By the early 1930s, the company had begun producing its own greeting cards and strengthening its place in the market, and it is still operational today.

I am really excited to say that I found a tiny little ad, a want ad in what’s called The Plain Dealer. It was a newspaper out of Cleveland, OH dated September 22, 1912. All it says is, "GIRL to assort post cards. J. Saperstein, 2500 E. 40th-st. I feel like a sleuth ya'll.

An article published in 1950 in The Cleveland Press wrote an article in their Business & Finance section called, “Greeting Card Firm Expands as Armed Force Orders Quadruple.” It goes on to say, “Although the Army post exchanges and the Navy ship stores have been among American Greeting’s largest customers for some time, the distribution of cards to the armed forces has quadrupled in the past year.”

As of 2026, American Greetings Corporation is the 2nd largest greeting card maker behind Hallmark. 
A few episodes ago I spoke a bit about Hallmark while looking into the life of Charles Schulz and Peanuts which I’ll link to along with others from today’s episode and again, just a reminder I do create YouTube videos to go alongside showing you the items I talk about here on the podcast so be sure to stop by over there.

While there are no actual photos in this little booklet, each page includes a black and white square image made to look like instant photos, along with the adhesive photo corner images.

Each has commentary to go along with it as if it's coming from the new baby's perspective. But I'll go through each of the pages and let's remember, this is most likely from around the late fifties, early sixties. And of course a lot of things have changed in child rearing since then.
So some reactions may involve laughing while others will cringe. And let's not forget the nervous cringing laughers. So let's take a look. 

When you open the book, page 1 has imagery of a safety pin and within the pin it says BABY’S OWN BOOK. Underneath it has the word FOR as in whom the book is for, followed by dash lines to fill out. And the next line under that is for the date. 

Page 2 is an image of what looks to be like my basement honestly, going across the top of the image is twine or a rope, and most likely uh, white cloth diapers are what's hanging from it. It says, this is mommy.
Mommy doesn't have much to do now except play with you. It's nice to have mommy play with you, isn't it? Scream and cry a lot and she will come to see you often. 

Page 3 is of a man in black and white striped pajama pants and house slippers, and he is tripping over some toys on the floor. It reads, this is Daddy. Sometimes he trips over the nice, soft, cuddly toys you leave on the floor. Isn't he funny when he trips? Do you have any big blocks? 

Page 4 is a side angle view of a man holding a black bag, which says M.D. This one says, this is the nice doctor who delivered you. You can always recognize him by his little black bag in his big black car. If you hold your breath for a long time, maybe he will come to visit you. 

Page 5 is an image of a figurine that looks like it's just the stork’s body and his legs. They're not showing his head. And it reads, this is the stork. Mommy and daddy will tell you the stork brought you. Smile and be tolerant. When they grow up, you can tell them the truth. 

Page 6, this has two smaller square photos. One is of a bottle about to hit the floor, and it says, this is your bottle. It is yum yum good. The other photo is of the bottle broken on the floor with milk everywhere. It says, when you are through, throw it on the floor, watch it bounce. Oops.

Page 7, the photo is of a bowl, a cup and something else. I can't tell what it is. Maybe a rattle on the highchair table. And it looks like they may have put an actual firecracker in the bowl of cereal and just waited for it to explode. And it reads, this is cereal. Cereal is so slurp slurp good. It is good in your mouth. It is good on your face, but it is best of all in your hair. 

Page 8, mom is wearing a dress and slippers leaning over the tub. There's a rag on the floor and another over the edge of the tub, and this one says, this is a bath. You should kick a lot when you take a bath. This will make you clean. Mommy likes to be clean too. Splash, splash, splash. 

Page 9 is a photo of a crib filled with various toys. And this says this is your crib. There is just enough room between the bars for your head. Wanna see how fast mommy and daddy can run? Stick your head through the bars. Run mommy run. 

Page 10 is a picture of a man taking a picture of the viewer. It reads, this is a camera. When Daddy takes your picture with the camera, you should always slouch and cry and close your eyes tight. It is lots of fun having your picture taken this way.

Page 11 is a woman with curlers in her hair, and she's holding a book over her face this is a book by Dr. Spock. It's full of wonderful information about babies like you. Mommy reads it all the time. Do not bother mommy when she is reading Dr. Spock. It's a big book. It could hurt you. 

Page 12, a closeup picture of a lady's hand with a bunch of bracelets on her wrist holding up a rattle. This one states, this is mommy's friend. When she comes to see you, she goes, “koochy, koochy-koo.” Doesn't that make you sick? Couldn't you just throw up? 

Page 13. This has two photos on it. One is a picture of an open safety pin and it reads, this is a safety pin. Safety pins hold your diapers together. they're very sharp. The second image is of a schnauzer, and it says, See the dog? 

Page 14, two images again. The top photo is of the rattle you got from your mom's friend, and it says, this is a rattle. It makes a loud noise. 
The final image shows mom and dad in their room. Dad is still in those striped pajamas, sitting on the edge of the bed while mom has a pillow over her head lying in the fetal position. What it says above them is, Isn't it quiet in the middle of the night? Rattle Rattle. 

The final page is a blank spot to put baby's photo.
It says, this is you. You are a very cute baby. Mommy and daddy are proud of you. They deserve to be. THE  END

So, what was your favorite or least favorite page? My favorite was, “isn’t he funny when he trips?”
My least favorite one was the one with the doctor about holding your breath. That was just awful. The end again.

Thank you for joining me. As I shared a snippet of the past, I'd love to know if it connected with you in some way. Did it spark a memory or make you see something differently? If so, consider sharing it. Be sure to check out the show notes for additional info, links and ways to connect. It's not nostalgia, it's human.
Until next time, may you find something worth holding on to.