Ephemera:

Ephemera is a broad term used to describe items of paper that were created for use in a short time span and meant to be thrown away after one or two uses. Items generally put into the ephemera category of collecting would be sheet music, posters, stock certificates, post cards, cigarette cards, magazines, catalogs, and the like.
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Monday, January 10, 2011

Madeline's Diaries

Madeline kept a diary almost her entire life.  Even the last few years when she suffered from macular degeneration, she attempted to use a tape recorder to record her daily activities.  Although our family enjoyed flipping through the older ones and reading a few entries, most of them are really boring.  I don't want to lose any readers, so I'm doing this one post on this part of her life.  I'm posting the entry for June 6, 1944 as well as one other page from an earlier diary.  She had several souvenir items stuck in the diary pages (you know every bit of paper was a souvenir to her!) and I'm posting a few of the more interesting ones.  (Click on the image to enlarge.)




She had turned 21 just the day before on June 5, 1944.



A typical diary page.







Do we still celebrate Sweetest Day?  You would think I would know if it involves candy.




Everyone did what they could do for the war effort.





I was pleased and amazed to find this in one of the books.  I love the simplicity of it!  Madeline, however, was not a seamstress or a crafty person in any way.  I'm sure all proper young ladies had to produce at least one piece of needlework.



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4 comments:

  1. SarsaparillaJanuary 10, 2011 at 9:37 PM

    I've been looking forward to taking a peek at Madeline's diary. Thanks for posting this! The 1944 D-Day entry is so touching. I especially like her note across the top about how Bob Hope said "God Bless those kids over there" and it made her weep.

    By the way...
    According to Wikipedia, Sweetest Day is still celebrated, primarily in the Great Lakes region and the Northeast. I've heard of it, but stupidly have never taken advantage of it! Never too late to start, right?

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 10, 2011 at 11:40 PM

    Just think, if not for the foul weather in the English Channel D-Day would be June 5, 1944, and forever connected to Madeline. I suspect if Ike and Monty knew her they would have changed the date to the 5th to accomodate her! She commented on that more than once, I recall.

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 10, 2011 at 11:44 PM

    Anyone else remember the massacre of the British Army in the Khyber Pass, which occurred on January 6, 1842? Apparently it was deemed important enough to include in diaries when Madeline went to school. Believe you'll find it filed under "Battle of Ghandamak?" Brits rather fond of fighting battles back then.

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  4. sweetpeaJanuary 11, 2011 at 8:33 PM

    thanks so much for your sweet comment on my post! all the best to you.

    blessings,

    shelley

    ReplyDelete

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