Handbag
by Ruth Fainlight
My mother's old leather handbag,
crowded with letters she carried
all through the war. The smell
of my mother's handbag: mints
and liptsick and Coty powder.
The look of those letters, softened
and worn at the edges, opened,
read, and refolded so often.
Letters from my father. Odour
of leather and powder, which ever
since then has meant womanliness,
and love, and anguish, and war.
there are generations of these in my keeping right now, going back to the american civil war, my mothers and fathers things, grand parents, great grand parents, great aunts photo collections, momentos and letters, jewlery, old toys, and diplomas, passports, handspun clothing, ancient crockery( no makers marks....),etc, etc
arrow points picked by my great uncle john, as he followed a horse drawn plow.....not much else to do back there right!
Betty White holds such a highly regarded “Hollywood Star” place for me. It was fascinating to see her brought to life through her very ordinary belongings. Fun read.
Perhaps there were spares in case anyone lost theirs? I don't know enough about the military to say whether that's likely, but as sensible chaps it seems a reasonable assumption.
I was going to throw in a rather glib "and the other side was styled by Hugo Boss" but I figured I'd check if that was actually true first and... only kinda:
Brings to mind this poem
Wow. That hits.
there are generations of these in my keeping right now, going back to the american civil war, my mothers and fathers things, grand parents, great grand parents, great aunts photo collections, momentos and letters, jewlery, old toys, and diplomas, passports, handspun clothing, ancient crockery( no makers marks....),etc, etc arrow points picked by my great uncle john, as he followed a horse drawn plow.....not much else to do back there right!
Thanks for sharing this, really fascinating stuff. I’m glad her estate is willing to donate these sorts of things.
I'm curious how the soldiers had extra insignias and patches to give away as souvenirs.
Betty White holds such a highly regarded “Hollywood Star” place for me. It was fascinating to see her brought to life through her very ordinary belongings. Fun read.
I worked on a film project with her about 15 years ago and I'm happy to report that she was just as great behind the camera as she was in front of it.
Perhaps there were spares in case anyone lost theirs? I don't know enough about the military to say whether that's likely, but as sensible chaps it seems a reasonable assumption.
Wrong comment to reply to?
(2023)
Added above. Thanks!
Alternatively 1941-1945
Or, if World War-indexed, 2.
Fun fact: some historians would 0-index this array, with the Seven Years War being first truly global conflict.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Years%27_War
One of the lowest moments in human history, but everyone still dressed well.
I was going to throw in a rather glib "and the other side was styled by Hugo Boss" but I figured I'd check if that was actually true first and... only kinda:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/gysdhn/how_d...
Why is this top item with like 8 comments
Because of the # of upvotes.