EN 455
Autry, Mary. “Little Helpers In Home Management.” The Progressive Farmer Mar. 1938.
“Little Helpers in Home Management” is an article published in The Progressive Farmer, and was found in the Carol Shepard Price Home Economics Teaching Materials box in the Hoole Special Collections Library, in the folder “House-Furniture 1632.0002/21.” This piece discusses DIY fixes to
Joan Gillespie was born on September 10, 1931 to Frances Jane Gillespie and Leo Gillespie in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She had one younger brother, Richard, born in 1936. On May 28, 1955, she married Angelo Edward Bove, a first generation Italian. They met on a company ski trip at the bank they both worked at. Together they had 7 children: Donna, John, Lisa, Joann, Angela, Christopher, and Angelo Edward. Joan remained in the Philadelphia area until her death in 1994. A devout Irish Catholic, Joan was known for her sewing. She made her own wedding dress and sewed clothes for all 7 of her children.
Growing up, the most tangible part of my mom’s family was a collection of crochet blankets acquired from funerals and my mom’s childhood home. My grandmother Joan Frances died before I was born, and my great grandmother Frances Jane lived in Pennsylvania in a nursing home before she died in 2008, so the blankets were how I connected with the two women who were my namesakes. My mom kept the blankets in her closet, some wrapped carefully in plastic comforter bags. In the winter they would come down from their perch and be distributed throughout the house. Continue reading “Crochet Comforts”
I never knew the woman I was named after. She died in the early 90s, three weeks after she walked my mother down the aisle. Left behind were 7 adult children, a house that had been added on to at least once as the family grew over 16 years, and 3 things just for me. Of course, nobody knew that yet. I wasn’t born until nearly four years after her death, and even then parts of this treasure trove stayed hidden until 18 years later, tucked away in a faded cardboard box deep inside my mom’s closet.
Dorothea Lange took this photo in February of 1936 in Saint Luis Obispo County, California. It depicts a migrant worker and the car he lives in. This photo paints a familiar picture of the Great Depression. By depicting a migrant