National Museum of Australia - Edgar Mayne's autograph album

Edgar Mayne's autograph album

Edgar (Ernie) Mayne created this autograph album while on tour with the Australian team in 1912 and 1913. It contains the signatures of about 1000 people, including Mayne's fellow cricketers and people he met as he travelled across the globe.

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A colour photograph of an autograph album and two maple leaves. The album is standing up with the cover presented to the camera. The cover is green with gold text on it. In the upper part of the album the word 'Album' is in green lettering in a gold horizontal rectangle. The remainder of the text says 'XIV Australian XI Autographs England, America, Canada Etc. and Australian Team America, Canada & Bermuda 1913' In the bottom left corner of the cover is the name 'Edgar R. Mayne'. The two maple leaves lie in front of the album. They have been arranged so that their stems point toward each other. The album and leaves have been photographed against a white studio background. They all cast soft shadows on the background.

The cover of Edgar Mayne's album. Photo: George Serras.

A photograph of a page from an autograph album. At the top of the page, which is pale pink, is written 'Australia v Gentlemen of Philadelphia Manheim Ground Sept 27-28 30 1912'. An undulating line has been drawn under this writing. Under the line are 11 autographs.

Mayne collected these autographs at a match against Philadelphia towards the end of Australia's 1912 tour. Can you find the signature of John Barton King? King took nine wickets in the match to snatch an upset win for Philadelphia by just two runs.
Photo: George Serras.

A photograph of a page from an autograph album. At the top of the page is written 'Australian Team to America Canada + Bermuda 1913'. An undulating line has been drawn underneath the writing. Under the line are 15 autographs.

Mayne collected the autographs of all his teammates on the 1913 tour. He included his own signature at the top of the page.
Photo: George Serras.

A photograph of a page from an autograph album. At the top of the page is written 'Australia v Edmonton (Canada) Diamond (?) Park June 3 + 4'. An undulating line has been drawn under this writing. Under the line are 21 autographs. Four of them have been written vertically on the left side of the page.

It's no wonder that this is one of the more crowded pages in Mayne's album — in Edmonton, Canada, the Australian XI took on a team of 18 players! This match, played in June 1913, was drawn. The Australians won a rematch later in the tour.
Photo: George Serras.

A photograph of a page from an autograph album. At the bottom of the page is written 'Australians v Coloured Team (Bermuda) July 24th 25th'. Above this are 13 autographs. They have all been written diagonally on the page, sloping up from left to right.

On the 1913 tour the Australians once again beat the Bermuda team they had beaten the previous year. Mayne's album shows that in 1913 they also played a Bermuda 'Coloured' team. Segregation did not end in Bermuda until the 1960s.
Photo: George Serras.