The collector: Vintage passports

Interview from the collector

What (are you collecting): I collect women's passports from the 1950s and earlier.   

When (did you start): 2004.

How (many do you have?): Seven.   

Where (do you find them): Ebay, mostly. And friends buy them for me.   

Where (do you keep them): On the plate rail of what would be the dining room in a more civilized house, but in our house is the playroom.   

What (‘s a crazy/interesting story behind one): One of the first things you notice in these passports is how they were often created to be issued to a traveler and "wife" — husband and wife could travel on one passport, and the assumption was that a traveler would be male, with perhaps a wife coming along. Women traveling solo screwed up the system — the issuer would have to go through crossing out all the blanks for "wife." Children, too, could travel on a passport with their parent.

Why (do you love them): My own passport has always been a prized possession; it represents freedom, possibility, adventure. I like imagining why these women were traveling at a time when women weren't "supposed" to go roaming about, and certainly not unescorted. Their passports give tantalizing hints.

http://www.etsy.com/storque/handmade-life/the-collectors-momeraths-vintage-passports-7112/