Exhibiting More Finds at the Local Antique Shop

This month, I am exhibiting the diary of Eileen Langmayd at the high school where I work as an information specialist. This is my 3rd exhibit relating to archives since I started in this position in September. One of my main goals at the school is to weave archives into our conversation so that our students understand the diversity of information and how different sources serve their research and their lives.

I am lucky to have a couple of talented assistants, including one who has a natural skill at display. I design the topic of the exhibit, provide some resources and information, and she has become the one to put up the display in an attractive way. Our exhibit focuses on the idea of lost information. It discusses how I found the diary in an antique shop and how I am attempting to find out more about the diarist. I make a connection between the 1930s teen writer who lived in a neighboring town and my students. I talk about the girl's connection to her community; how her diary entries reflect what was happening in Manchester, NH at the time and what was happening nationally, as the world was struggling through a Depression. The exhibit includes the diary iteself, photos of some of its contents, images of Manchester from the time, labels describing events and connections, and books shedding light on the times.

The exhibit includes simple straightforward label copy that tries to introduce students to primary source materials in the context of the history they illustrate.

The exhibit caught the attention of a faculty member who hopped on Ancestry.com to find out more about the diarist. He learned when she was born, when she was married, and other vital statistics. He learned that she had no children and this is a key clue to understanding how her materials ended up in an antique shop. He kindly e-mailed me his findings.

Census information and photo of Eileen Langmayd's school shared with me by a colleague.

I look forward to continuing to share my antique shop findings with my students and colleagues. I think archives are perfect for illustrating the value of "close reading." Illustrating the value of archives, More Finds at the Local Antique Shop continues to share interesting materials with a diverse audience. I have more to share about Miss Eileen as I continue transcribing her work, but I look forward to my next find! It's time to hit the shops once again. 

More Finds at the Local Antique Shop: Joe Louis, Shirley Temple, and Shorthand

I have been working on the transcript of my recently found Manchester Diary. While the second entry in my Kennebunkport Diary discussed the largest train crash in Maine, the January entries of this current diary include nothing so momentous. However, the diary of Eileen Langmayd, 1935-1939, discussed the every day activities of a depression era teen, providing a good scope of life at that time.

This is a generation that we are quickly losing and I'm sure that Miss Eileen's diary came to me for this reason. Born in the early 20s, now into their 80s, the American children of the depression held memories that can make us better understand this important time. I suspect that Eileen Langmayd's diary had been part of an estate sale that entered an antique shop quietly and sat unassumingly among the non-paper based antiques in the store. But while the objects are admired mostly for their form, it is the diary that reveals the thoughts and deeds of its owner. It is the diary we should value for preserving memories and it is the diary that should be highlighted for the intimate connection it offers us to those who came before us.

Eileen Langmayd spent her days going to school, working, practicing her transcription and shorthand (I assume she was on her way to becoming a secretary), eating popcorn and fudge as treats, sledding down hills, sewing, listening to the radio, shopping with her mom, and going to the theater. None of these activities may strike us as particularly unusual or maybe not even particularly interesting, but woven together the diary entries give us a remarkable sense of time. They tell us of life as a young woman in Manchester, NH in the 30s and tie Miss Eileen to larger communities and larger national scale events.

• "January 12, 1935. Saturday. In A.M. helped mother. In P.M. went up to Irene’s for a few minutes. Later in afternoon Mama & I went to “Shirley Temple” in “Bright Eyes” at State Theatre with Jimmie Dunn."

It turns out that Manchester, NH had many theaters where the local population was entertained. To my knowledge, one remains - The Palace Theatre on Hanover Street, where an historic feel remains palpable even when one primarily just attends summer matinee plays for children in the 21st century.

• "January 25, 1939. Wednesday. Got a letter from Joe. Went over to “Mil” G. Met a girl, Albertine Dunn. Very nice. Had cocoa and cake. Came home about ten. Listened to fight which lasted two min. Joe Louis won."

With a very quick search, I learned that it was on this date that Louis won the heavy weight title. While it seems to me that Miss Eileen would not be the kind of girl to today listen to a boxing match, in 1939 it was the thing to do. It was an important major radio event and among her short diary entries she recorded the experience.

My goal is to finish transcribing the 11 months of diary entries that cover 5 years in this girl's life. Each page has one date that includes 5 separate entries from the various years. When Eileen got the December 31st of one year, she would turn back to the beginning to record January 1st of the next year. For example:

• January 16

1935. Wednesday. We rod home from school in Lizzie.[?]

1936. Thursday. In P.M. Wayne down. Took his picture. Hope this one comes out. In Eve. “Gwen” & I went over to church. Quite a few kids there playing piano. Warren took my scarf & put it up on T. pole.

1937. Saturday. Worked all day.

1938. Sunday. Had quite a cold so didn’t go to S.S. In P.M. Gwen & Hilda came down. We took Marion’s wedding gift, a picture, down to her. In Eve, pasted in scrapbooks.

1939. Monday. Received an air mail letter from Jo Jo today. Also received two records which Wilks sent me “[?] of an Engineer” and “I Wish I Had You.”

I am getting a sense of this 5 year span that includes schooling, boys, birthdays and more. It is actually a little funny and perhaps awkward to not transcribe one year straight through, but I wanted to keep the authenticity of the diary and decided to keep the transcript using the diary's current form. I find myself wondering where in the diary I'll learn things such as exactly who Wayne is (he shows up quite a bit.) I find myself growing closer to Eileen, wishing for her that Wayne is a steady-beau, that he's not heading off to war, that the depression doesn't affect her too much.

• 1936. Friday. In A.M. Hilda and I went down to WPA Administration building. We got an application to fill out. Later we went to drugstore to get pictures. Wayne’s came out. Hilda down to study in P.M.

And life went on...and my life goes on with hers in it...I live her past in my present.