Small Cracker Jack find - my first

[mullinsm]

Last month I flew to central Montana for a family visit. While we were all together, my aunt and mother in law were going though some of my grandmother's old albums. My MIL, who knows I like old baseball cards, called me over and said "Here's something you might want to see." She showed me one page from the album:






Then another:






And then:



I was dumbfounded. I've always read about cards in scrapbooks but never had the fortune to see any first-hand. And nice cards too! Not the top stars from the set, but a couple Hall of Famers, and a hall of shamer too...

I was especially thrilled that they were something from the family. I don't have any other family cards, unless you count my brother's 1977 Eddie Murray rookie... We're not totally sure who put the scrapbook together, but it spans the teens through the 50s and mostly contains recipes, news articles, etc. These are the only sports cards. I'd love to know their story - this part of Montana 100 years ago was very rural and remote, so a box of Cracker Jacks would have been a real treat.

Condition-wise, I was impressed by how clean and new some of the cards look, almost like they went straight from the box into the scrapbook. Four are crease free. On the downside, they're securely glued to the pages, and someone penciled in other names on the tops of each card. I was thrilled that my aunt and uncle let me take them home, but they aren't going to win any grading contests.

I don't know much about the Cracker Jack sets. Please enlighten me! Someone snuck a peek at the back of Rickey and it's printed upside down, so at least that one is from 1915, right? I assume the rest are as well, but they slightly wrinkled the card in the process and I almost died. Someone else dinged a corner on the Maranville as well - people stop picking at them! - so I put them away before anyone else got any bright ideas.

I would appreciate opinions and advice on how best to preserve and protect these. I won't mess with the pencil marks, but I would consider removing the cards from the pages. I have soaked scrapbook paper off a few t-cards with good success before, but not Cracker Jacks. Has anyone had luck removing these? Did I read that soaking makes the red bleed into the borders? I know different glues react differently to water, and I thought I could test the glue by trying to soak off one of the non sports cards first. Is it worth contacting a professional conservator for help? Any recommendations?

Or maybe I'll just leave the cards on the pages. They do make a nice display, and keeping them together preserves their history as a group. Either way, I have no intention to sell them. They are special and I'd like the cards to stay in the family.

Thanks for your input and expertise. I always learn something when I come here. Have a great day and happy collecting. Cards are still out there!

Mike