Centennial Ripple: A Work of Art and Labor of Love
Have you ordered your copy of the Centennial Ripple? This special limited edition of the Lake Fairfield Ripple showcases the best of one hundred years of Merrie-Woode’s treasured literary magazine. Including poetry, prose, songs, and artwork, the Centennial Ripple is a charming and nostalgic glance through camp life over the past century. Only 1,000 copies were printed and will be sold out soon.
I had the pleasure of working with board member, Dorothy Moss Williams, alumnae, Meaghan Dowling Chorske and Hebe Dowling Murphy, as well as current camp parent, Amanda Love, for over two years on this exciting project. Meaghan, Hebe, and Amanda poured their hearts and souls into creating the beautiful booklet to be the exclamation point on our centennial year.
Meaghan and Hebe made the perfect Merrie-Woode mother and daughter editing team! They read through each and every Ripple of the past one hundred years, which have been preserved in the CMW Centennial Archives. After spending countless hours combing through over eighty editions of the Ripple, from 1923 – 2017, they pulled their favorites into one collective manuscript. That original draft was painstakingly condensed down to 120 pages to feature the absolute best of the best of a century’s worth of Merrie-Woode writing and artwork. Meaghan noted that one of the biggest challenges was trying to decide which pieces of writing made the final cut. With so many wonderful pieces of writing, how does one choose? Meaghan explained, “The pieces that we chose to include in the Centennial Ripple were the ones that were the most representative of its particular era or especially evocative of the emotions that Merrie-Woode stirs in all our hearts.”
While Meaghan and Hebe were busy editing the manuscript, Amanda worked to pull a beautiful selection of artwork throughout the decades. Amanda is a graphic designer and bookbinder who creates beautiful, one of a kind print pieces. Amanda has designed this special Centennial edition of the Ripple to be a gorgeous work of art. Amanda recalled joining the team in 2017 where she met Meaghan at her home in New York City. “She had organized piles of Ripples covering every inch of her dining room table! That following fall I received [Meaghan and Hebe’s] edited selections and read them for the first time… It was magical to read – the same mountain, the same frog sounds, the cabins, traditions, friendships…Girls were from different times, but the principles of true friendship and connection to nature was the same. Over the decades, these writers and illustrators find their voice and become powerful young women…I liked reading and seeing campers grow through the Ripple.”
Amanda poured over the visual design, look and feel of the Centennial Ripple. She described, “The design and the concept for the typography and layout became clear. It was visually quiet and solely focused on writing in the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1940s, the campers start to draw cartoons and silly creatures – Tajar comes into the story of camp. The editing process became a challenge as the entries flipped from written to visual! The 1980s was an explosion of bubble lettering and clever collages! Then the visual story and style of writing changed again in the late 1990s and 2000s… there were more writing entries and the writing style is reminiscent of the 1920s and 30s… reflective and deep.”
Amanda, Meaghan, and Hebe were inspired by the cover design of the tenth edition of the Lake Fairfield Ripple in 1929, this centennial edition features a dark green cover, silver print, and a tipped in archival image of two campers walking towards the cabin line underneath Old Bald in the 1920s.
Corinne Foster and I recently returned from Amanda’s print studio in Granville, OH to help bind many of the Centennial Ripples. The binding of each booklet is hand stitched with needle and thread, love and care. It gives the Centennial Ripple a unique feel, rather than a mass printed and produced piece. Amanda trained us, fed us, and turned us into bookbinders for the weekend! We even got to run one of the covers through her antique letterpress! I was ever so appreciative to be part of the process from conception to creation. When you flip through the pages of your Centennial Ripple, know that a lot of love from a lot women went into the creation of those pages. From the hours upon hours of editing and revising to the hand stitched binding, it is an edition to treasure!
Meaghan, Hebe, and Amanda have graciously donated not only their time to this undertaking, but have also volunteered to underwrite the whole project. Because of this, it has allowed one hundred percent of the price of each Centennial Ripple to go to the CMW Endowment. To date, over $10,000 has been raised for the Endowment from sales. We can’t thank this tremendous trio of Merrie-Woode ladies enough for their time and their generosity, as well as the love and care they have devoted to make this limited edition of the Ripple so special. This Centennial Ripple is a true gift to the entire Merrie-Woode family today and for ages to come.
Merrie-Woode’s Ripple publications as one of the most important collections we have in the CMW Centennial Archives. It gives the best picture of what day to day life at Merrie-Woode has looked like for one hundred summers. As Meaghan described, “What stood out to me as my mother and I read through 100 years of Ripples was the universality of the Merrie-Woode experience. Whether I was reading a poem my grandmother had written in the 1920s, an illustration my mother had drawn in the 1950s, a piece of prose I had written in the 1980s or a piece of art my daughter drew last summer, there was such a strong sense of connection from one generation to the next because of the shared commonality of our experiences.” This limited edition of the Ripple is the perfect way to culminate our celebration of Merrie-Woode’s centennial.
Be sure to order your Centennial Ripple online soon. There will not be any further printings of this limited edition, making these 1,000 books a treasured keepsake.
Price: $15.00. All proceeds will go to the CMW Endowment.
ORDER CENTENNIAL RIPPLE