Bookmark: Bladwyser Ouma (Isie Smuts) Birthday 1942 Commemorative

Bookmark: Bladwyser. Ouma Birthday - Verjaarsgad Jaar 72 Years. 1870 - 1942

Souvenir: Gedagtenis 

Ephemeral item: printed cloth bookmark (19 cm long) commemorating the 72nd birthday of Isie ('Ouma') Smuts - wife of Prime Minister Jan Smuts.

Slight fraying: generally in good condition (see images).

Produced during wartime, this item was no doubt intended to generate patriotic feeling around the iconic figure of 'Ouma' (and, by extension, her illustrious husband).

'Sybella "Isie" Margaretha Smuts (née Krige, also known as Ouma Smuts; 22 December 1870 - 25 February 1954) was the second First Lady of the Union of South Africa, and a teacher, farmer, charity organizer and scrapbooker. She grew up in the British Cape Colony and qualified as a teacher in 1891. She taught for six years before marrying Jan Smuts, who later became the second Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa. ... Smuts was known to be extremely frugal, never possessing more than three dresses at any one time throughout her life. She preferred to be barefoot, only wearing shoes when attending a party or in Cape Town at a parliamentary function. Known for her frankness and humor, her personal correspondence reveals that she was "lively, intelligent, and humane", according to Keith Hancock and Jean van der Poel, the historians who compiled the family archival records.' (Wikipedia)