In Red Hats, Beads, & Bags: 1908 Graduates Sharing Their Lives Through Letters

Rating:
Summary: How little reality changes!
Review: Dolores Murphy bought a box of books at a Denver auction and stumbled upon a stash of letters from members of the Wellesly College Class of 1908. The letters, written in the warmth of friendship, give accounts of individual lives as each records personal and world events from 1918 to 1958 and traces her hopes, fears, dreams and disappointments. Out of 200 members of the graduating class, Murphy has selected the correspondence of 42.

These women write from a variety of perspectives: From China and Europe during wars and revolutions as well as from the post-WWI homefront in our own evolving nation. Reading, we see changes in the women as the mature as well as changes in the societies in which they live.

There's much to enjoy and much to learn from these engaging voices from a past not all that different from our own present.