The Brown Notebooks

I came across two brown spiral-bound notebooks as I was sorting through some of my mother’s things. They interested me because one was her diary– just a few notes about daily living – beginning Oct. 6, 1938. The last entry is Jan. 8, 1940, with a note to go to another notebook, which cannot be found. The second book discovered was her English class notes.

The brown notebooks -- 74 years old.

I consider these two notebooks be a “find.” I have been browsing through them with fascination the past few days.

“Monday, Dec. 12, 1938:  I went to school and made a speech in Miss Whitehurst’s class about the Student Council. The yearbook staff met. I sent Henry his Christmas present.”

“Thursday, Dec. 15, 1938: The Senior II’s played the Senior III’s. We won. I got a letter from Henry and he sent some pictures. Signa, M.N. and I went to the pictures on the bus. “Little Miss Bro9adway” with Shirley Temple was on. Mildred, Hildred, Pearl, Ralph and I sat together.”

“Things I bought in the Senior III class at LCHS for the year beginning Monday Sept. 11, 1939 (note: in those days the Senior Class was called Sr. III; Junior Class Sr. II; and Sophmore Class Sr. I).

(Note: I'm not listing everything from the notebook; just a sampling of her entries)

Notebook and paper -  $ .10

Ice cream                      .05

Ring               7.00 (her class ring, which she gave me a few years ago; my sister has our father’s class ring)

Picture show                   .05

Dress pattern                  .15

Football Banquet              .15

Dress and buttons          1.57 (fabric for sewing a dress)

Transportation for trip, cabin and Kodak film     $2.20

Spending money for trip    1.50

Class picture                     .10

(Oh my, can you believe the difference in then and now?)

The 1940 class ring -- worn thin from many years of wear.

As you can see, the entries were just the daily comings and goings of a 16-year-old-girl. There are many mentions of school activities; parties; visits with friends and family; riding the bus to the movies; working in the field; girlfriends she spent the night with and those who spent the night with her; dates with Henry. And then on Oct. 16, 1938, simply “Henry left.”

What she didn’t say was that on that date, Henry (my father) joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and was sent to Oregon to work on a forestry project along the Columbia River. The Corps was a New Deal program of the Great Depression that put young men to work on natural resource projects.

He was painfully homesick, and from her dairy I learned she received a letter from him each day while he was away! She still has those “love letters” tucked into a little carved wooden “cedar chest” with a mirror in the top and a tiny lock to secure it – the kind once sold with candy or stationery inside. (She recorded that the little chest was a Christmas present in 1938 from her grandmother.)

My sister and I got in big trouble one day when we were kids because we picked the lock on that chest and read the letters!

My mother didn't reveal any of her “feelings” in this diary – that she missed him. I’m sure she did but didn't record it.

He stayed in the Corp only six months before returning home to resume his courtship with my mother and they were married immediately after she graduated from high school, in 1940.

I love getting a little peek into my mother’s life when she was a girl. I took the notebooks to her house today and started reading to her from them. This made her smile, as she remembered many of the incidents and practically all of the people mentioned (she’s 91 and has a better memory than I do at times!) And then she would remember another incident associated with the little entry I read her. Amazing!

Reading to her from her diary brought so much happiness to her that I plan to continue until we reach the end of the book.

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