I completely loved this piece, Harriet! The Eletelephony poem is a favorite with my kids, but that's all I knew from the author. The description of her parents is fantastic. I knew of the Iowa College for the Blind only through Laura Ingalls Wilder since her sister Mary attended it. I love that there's another literary connection to it.
Also, the part about the quiet weeks and months after a baby is born felt resonant. Any writing I've gotten done in the past year has been while I've been nap-trapped under my baby. The image of the baby's back as a writing desk is just wonderful. You hear about the 'pram in the hallway' or 'the baby on the fire escape' but I much prefer this image of harmonizing children and the creative life.
I'd love more about summer camp books! I read Poppies for England by Noel Streatfeild a few summers ago and had a lot of fun reading more about seaside summer family camps in England.
Thank you! Actually your comment has made me realise I made a mistake writing this, it was actually the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston he founded, not the Iowa College - I obviously had Mary Ingalls on my mind when I was writing and subconsciously swapped the two! Never mind but I have changed it on the site now at least.
Yes writing when the baby is asleep is basically my life at the moment - I actually found with my first that I felt more creative than ever and was desperate to write but since she would only sleep on me it made that difficult. But I certainly haven’t found that having babies and a creative life are mutually exclusive. I’m writing more now than I ever have, even if the time I have to spend is more restricted.
I haven't read Poppies for England but I love Noel Streatfeild so will look out for it. I found all the old logs and photo albums for Camp Merryweather online and they are just fascinating so I think I will try and write more on that at some point.
I never want to sugarcoat it for prospective parents, because there is so much writing that doesn't get done with kids. But like you, I've felt more creative than ever since having children, and I'm far more productive than I ever was before. Being short on time is helpfully clarifying when it comes to prioritizing writing projects!
I went to my fair share of Girl Scout summer camps growing up, though none had so jolly a name as Camp Merryweather. I'm excited to read more about it if you do write on it.
Just when you think you've heard of all the books... I will have to look up some of these - if not for myself, for a particular daughter who really loves Louisa May Alcott's writing. Thank you for sharing about these! (I do hope I'll be able to find some in print.)
I hope she enjoys them! I'm not sure that any of them are in print any more but I think you can get them via print-on-demand places (or try Abe for second-hand). I would love to have them as 'real' books!
How do companies decide which books to reprint? I know there are many companies now who are reprinting old treasures, but I don't know *who* decides which books to print, and whether requests from readers would be influential...
Like most people, I knew Richards' name because of her poetry, but I did not realize she was Julia Ward Howe's daughter, or that she wrote "Captain January" (I grew up watching Shirley Temple movies)! I remember a passage in one of Theodore Roosevelt's letters where he describes reading her poetry to his youngest boys, including, appropriately, one called "How Does the President Take His Tea?" Her books for girls sound charming—I'll have to look into them next time I feel in the mood for some vintage girls' fiction!
That's so interesting about Roosevelt reading her poetry - I wonder if this was before or after his boys went to her summer camp? Do let me know if you read any of the books and how you get on with them, I go back and read the whole series every so often.
This was fascinating! Thanks so much for it. Do you have any sense of whether Laura Richards & Louisa May Alcott ever met? It just struck me reading this that their parents may have been part of the same social circles (but I'm no expert).
They did meet! In her autobiography Richards describes how she loved reading Alcott's 'Flower Fables' as a child, and that Alcott had later told her that she was ashamed of that book, so they must have spoken at some point. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find anything further but it wouldn't surprise me if they were at least acquaintances given the parental connections and the fact that they were both such popular writers.
I love her too! Though I haven’t read that one, just the ones on Gutenberg as I’ve never seen any of her books in ‘real life’. Strawberry Acres and The Second Violin are two of my favourites. And The Twenty-Fourth of June!
My mother was an inveterate buyer of books at church jumble sales and ‘Cherry Square’ was one she picked up. The heroine is Josephine Jenney and it seemed to me at that point all interesting heroines had to be called Jo, as in Little Women and the Chalet School books. You only discover one thing about the heroine halfway through the book. It’s an excellent twist.
I completely loved this piece, Harriet! The Eletelephony poem is a favorite with my kids, but that's all I knew from the author. The description of her parents is fantastic. I knew of the Iowa College for the Blind only through Laura Ingalls Wilder since her sister Mary attended it. I love that there's another literary connection to it.
Also, the part about the quiet weeks and months after a baby is born felt resonant. Any writing I've gotten done in the past year has been while I've been nap-trapped under my baby. The image of the baby's back as a writing desk is just wonderful. You hear about the 'pram in the hallway' or 'the baby on the fire escape' but I much prefer this image of harmonizing children and the creative life.
I'd love more about summer camp books! I read Poppies for England by Noel Streatfeild a few summers ago and had a lot of fun reading more about seaside summer family camps in England.
Thank you! Actually your comment has made me realise I made a mistake writing this, it was actually the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston he founded, not the Iowa College - I obviously had Mary Ingalls on my mind when I was writing and subconsciously swapped the two! Never mind but I have changed it on the site now at least.
Yes writing when the baby is asleep is basically my life at the moment - I actually found with my first that I felt more creative than ever and was desperate to write but since she would only sleep on me it made that difficult. But I certainly haven’t found that having babies and a creative life are mutually exclusive. I’m writing more now than I ever have, even if the time I have to spend is more restricted.
I haven't read Poppies for England but I love Noel Streatfeild so will look out for it. I found all the old logs and photo albums for Camp Merryweather online and they are just fascinating so I think I will try and write more on that at some point.
I never want to sugarcoat it for prospective parents, because there is so much writing that doesn't get done with kids. But like you, I've felt more creative than ever since having children, and I'm far more productive than I ever was before. Being short on time is helpfully clarifying when it comes to prioritizing writing projects!
I went to my fair share of Girl Scout summer camps growing up, though none had so jolly a name as Camp Merryweather. I'm excited to read more about it if you do write on it.
Just when you think you've heard of all the books... I will have to look up some of these - if not for myself, for a particular daughter who really loves Louisa May Alcott's writing. Thank you for sharing about these! (I do hope I'll be able to find some in print.)
I hope she enjoys them! I'm not sure that any of them are in print any more but I think you can get them via print-on-demand places (or try Abe for second-hand). I would love to have them as 'real' books!
How do companies decide which books to reprint? I know there are many companies now who are reprinting old treasures, but I don't know *who* decides which books to print, and whether requests from readers would be influential...
I think most of them will print pretty much anything if it's out of copyright and available for free online!
Like most people, I knew Richards' name because of her poetry, but I did not realize she was Julia Ward Howe's daughter, or that she wrote "Captain January" (I grew up watching Shirley Temple movies)! I remember a passage in one of Theodore Roosevelt's letters where he describes reading her poetry to his youngest boys, including, appropriately, one called "How Does the President Take His Tea?" Her books for girls sound charming—I'll have to look into them next time I feel in the mood for some vintage girls' fiction!
That's so interesting about Roosevelt reading her poetry - I wonder if this was before or after his boys went to her summer camp? Do let me know if you read any of the books and how you get on with them, I go back and read the whole series every so often.
This was fascinating! Thanks so much for it. Do you have any sense of whether Laura Richards & Louisa May Alcott ever met? It just struck me reading this that their parents may have been part of the same social circles (but I'm no expert).
They did meet! In her autobiography Richards describes how she loved reading Alcott's 'Flower Fables' as a child, and that Alcott had later told her that she was ashamed of that book, so they must have spoken at some point. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find anything further but it wouldn't surprise me if they were at least acquaintances given the parental connections and the fact that they were both such popular writers.
👀👀👀
Thanks for the Hildegarde recommendation. In the same genre I also loved ‘Daddy-Long-Legs’ by Jean Webster.
Yes me too! Although it feels a bit less romantic coming to it as an adult. I wrote a little bit about it in this post: https://thejoyofoldbooks.substack.com/p/six-old-school-romances-for-valentines
‘Cherry Square’ by Grace S Richmond is another big favourite of mine.
I love her too! Though I haven’t read that one, just the ones on Gutenberg as I’ve never seen any of her books in ‘real life’. Strawberry Acres and The Second Violin are two of my favourites. And The Twenty-Fourth of June!
My mother was an inveterate buyer of books at church jumble sales and ‘Cherry Square’ was one she picked up. The heroine is Josephine Jenney and it seemed to me at that point all interesting heroines had to be called Jo, as in Little Women and the Chalet School books. You only discover one thing about the heroine halfway through the book. It’s an excellent twist.
I'll keep an eye out for it!