Letter from Edie to Alma: 1/10/1948
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Roger's wife Edie organizes the wedding for Roger's sister Kay.
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Front of the envelopeImage #1 of five for this letterScroll down for the audio readingand for the transcript.
Back of the envelopeImage #2 of five for this letterScroll down for the audio readingand for the transcript.
Page 1Image #3 of five for this letterScroll down for the audio readingand for the transcript.
Page 2Image #4 of five for this letterScroll down for the audio readingand for the transcript.
Schedule of eventsImage #5 of five for this letterScroll down for the audio readingand for the transcript.
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1948-01-10: tour stops---images---audio---~TRANSCRIPT~---notes---links---site navigation
Saturday
Dear Aunt Alma --
I'll dash off a quick answer to your letter before Roger and Kay and I leave for Halifax to spend the night with Honey and her family -- six enormous puppies, all blond, five of them males.
I am enclosing a revised schedule. We are all delighted at Aunt Laura's news, and have this suggestion as to housing: Why don't you and Aunt Laura stay at Hancock St., and Uncle Fred and AG in Halifax both nights? Since he has the car it won't be so difficult. Bill's exams are going to be such a strain on him that he'll have all he can do to get to the wedding, so if we can avoid quartering anyone there it seems like a good idea. Not only does he have an exam the day after the wedding--he also has one the day after that. And our recent experience with weddings the day before an exam is a sobering one. Daddy will be driving in from Halifax on Sunday for the rehearsal and Uncle Fred and AG could come with him. That way Uncle Fred would have only the drive out Saturday night and in again Monday noon. And of course there are those puppies...
I see no need for you people to get here before Saturday morning. We will plan to have AG's dress finished before she gets here. I will put it on me and have mother hang it as though I wanted an ankle length dress, which should make it about right for AG. If it isn't it can always be changed, but I think it's a good idea to try to have it all done. (I have just come in from ordering the wedding cake and my fingers are so cold I can't type.)
And the wedding cake puzzles me a little. I ordered it from Schrafft's and I think it's going to cost too much but I don't know what to do about it. They will charge $25.50, and I think that's outrageous, but I really don't know. On the other hand I don't like to trust a less expensive place that I don't know about. I ordered a round 6" (diam.) wedding cake (dark fruit) for the top layer, which Kay and Ernie will have to keep. Under that there will be 12" and 16" layers of bride's cake (white). They make 10, 12, 14, and 16" layers. The 6-10-14 would be the best proportions, but that allows only about 11 lbs. of cake, and I think that's cutting it rather finely. (I wanted to say fine, but it didn't look right.) The right amount of cake would be 6-10-16 or 6-12-14, but both are rather ungraceful, so I ended up ordering 6-12-16. I don't imagine the price varies much on those anyway. That will give us about 15 lbs. of bride's cake, which is good for about 75 people. Kay expects about 60, so you see I want to run no chances of falling short. It isn't too late to change the order if anyone in the family has any better ideas. Of course the price includes the fancy frosting and silver trimmings and the bride and groom standing on top of the cake, but it still seems like a lot.
I called The Window Shop and they are open on Sundays. Would you like me to make a reservation? I think it's probably the best place in Cambridge, though I really don't know. The hotels give you very fancy service at a very fancy price, but I wouldn't say as much of their food. Kay feels that Bill and Mary Bauer (known as Hazy) should be included in the pre-nuptial family parties, particularly as she plans to ask Bill to help Roger usher. My father will also be on hand to usher in case the mob overwhelms us. Hazy, who was Mary Hay, is Joan Lundeen Ross's best friend, and is practically a member of the Lundeen family. They live in Medford, and are very nice.
I haven't seen AG's garter belt around, though her shoes and stockings are here. Should I institute an organized search or did she take it home with her?
After you left I found thank-you letters which you and AG had written for Christmas, which included plans for last weekend. They had got mixed in with some Christmas cards and I hadn't seen them at al!! No wonder weekend plans were a trifle confused.
Love,
E.
FRIDAY, Jan. 23rd.
Arrivals:
Eva to Mt. Auburn St.
AGS and AG to Hancock St. or Sat. A.M.
SATURDAY Jan. 24
Arrivals:
Fred to Bill's and Grace's
AGS and AG to Cambridge for the final fitting, Sat. A.M. We might arrive with Fred if that seems to give time enough. AGS to finish dress.
AGS and Laura to Hotel Bellevue
Dinner.
Family (dinner if the family isn't too large)
Scatter for the night at a reasonable hour.
"decentralize"
SUNDAY, Jan. 25
Dinner at place to be selected; AGS hostess, at 1:00 or earlier; place large enough for the family.
2:30. Rehearsal for the wedding party
AG to Halifax with E.R.
Other Stokeys to Boston or other convenient places.
MONDAY, Jan. 26th.
AGS arrive at 65 Mt. Auburn about 11:00 to be useful:
flowers for bridal party
wedding cake
refreshments
fire department
AG arrives with H.R. after lunch
3:45 music at chapel
4:00 wedding ceremony
4:30 or thereabouts, reception at Hotel Continental Hearth Room.
5:30-6:00 All vanish.
Car for South Hadley.
Dear Aunt Alma --
I'll dash off a quick answer to your letter before Roger and Kay and I leave for Halifax to spend the night with Honey and her family -- six enormous puppies, all blond, five of them males.
I am enclosing a revised schedule. We are all delighted at Aunt Laura's news, and have this suggestion as to housing: Why don't you and Aunt Laura stay at Hancock St., and Uncle Fred and AG in Halifax both nights? Since he has the car it won't be so difficult. Bill's exams are going to be such a strain on him that he'll have all he can do to get to the wedding, so if we can avoid quartering anyone there it seems like a good idea. Not only does he have an exam the day after the wedding--he also has one the day after that. And our recent experience with weddings the day before an exam is a sobering one. Daddy will be driving in from Halifax on Sunday for the rehearsal and Uncle Fred and AG could come with him. That way Uncle Fred would have only the drive out Saturday night and in again Monday noon. And of course there are those puppies...
I see no need for you people to get here before Saturday morning. We will plan to have AG's dress finished before she gets here. I will put it on me and have mother hang it as though I wanted an ankle length dress, which should make it about right for AG. If it isn't it can always be changed, but I think it's a good idea to try to have it all done. (I have just come in from ordering the wedding cake and my fingers are so cold I can't type.)
And the wedding cake puzzles me a little. I ordered it from Schrafft's and I think it's going to cost too much but I don't know what to do about it. They will charge $25.50, and I think that's outrageous, but I really don't know. On the other hand I don't like to trust a less expensive place that I don't know about. I ordered a round 6" (diam.) wedding cake (dark fruit) for the top layer, which Kay and Ernie will have to keep. Under that there will be 12" and 16" layers of bride's cake (white). They make 10, 12, 14, and 16" layers. The 6-10-14 would be the best proportions, but that allows only about 11 lbs. of cake, and I think that's cutting it rather finely. (I wanted to say fine, but it didn't look right.) The right amount of cake would be 6-10-16 or 6-12-14, but both are rather ungraceful, so I ended up ordering 6-12-16. I don't imagine the price varies much on those anyway. That will give us about 15 lbs. of bride's cake, which is good for about 75 people. Kay expects about 60, so you see I want to run no chances of falling short. It isn't too late to change the order if anyone in the family has any better ideas. Of course the price includes the fancy frosting and silver trimmings and the bride and groom standing on top of the cake, but it still seems like a lot.
I called The Window Shop and they are open on Sundays. Would you like me to make a reservation? I think it's probably the best place in Cambridge, though I really don't know. The hotels give you very fancy service at a very fancy price, but I wouldn't say as much of their food. Kay feels that Bill and Mary Bauer (known as Hazy) should be included in the pre-nuptial family parties, particularly as she plans to ask Bill to help Roger usher. My father will also be on hand to usher in case the mob overwhelms us. Hazy, who was Mary Hay, is Joan Lundeen Ross's best friend, and is practically a member of the Lundeen family. They live in Medford, and are very nice.
I haven't seen AG's garter belt around, though her shoes and stockings are here. Should I institute an organized search or did she take it home with her?
After you left I found thank-you letters which you and AG had written for Christmas, which included plans for last weekend. They had got mixed in with some Christmas cards and I hadn't seen them at al!! No wonder weekend plans were a trifle confused.
Love,
E.
FRIDAY, Jan. 23rd.
Arrivals:
Eva to Mt. Auburn St.
AGS and AG to Hancock St. or Sat. A.M.
SATURDAY Jan. 24
Arrivals:
Fred to Bill's and Grace's
AGS and AG to Cambridge for the final fitting, Sat. A.M. We might arrive with Fred if that seems to give time enough. AGS to finish dress.
AGS and Laura to Hotel Bellevue
Dinner.
Family (dinner if the family isn't too large)
Scatter for the night at a reasonable hour.
"decentralize"
SUNDAY, Jan. 25
Dinner at place to be selected; AGS hostess, at 1:00 or earlier; place large enough for the family.
2:30. Rehearsal for the wedding party
AG to Halifax with E.R.
Other Stokeys to Boston or other convenient places.
MONDAY, Jan. 26th.
AGS arrive at 65 Mt. Auburn about 11:00 to be useful:
flowers for bridal party
wedding cake
refreshments
fire department
AG arrives with H.R. after lunch
3:45 music at chapel
4:00 wedding ceremony
4:30 or thereabouts, reception at Hotel Continental Hearth Room.
5:30-6:00 All vanish.
Car for South Hadley.
1948-01-10: tour stops---images---audio---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
I'll dash off a quick answer to your letter before Roger and Kay and I leave for Halifax to spend the night with Honey and her family -- six enormous puppies, all blond, five of them males.
Halifax was where the family farm of Edie's family was located. It was usually closed up for the winter. Perhaps Edie's parents and her grandfather Packard opened it up for Christmas, which apparently included Alma, Fred, and AG.
Honey was a cocker spaniel, a daughter of Maggie's dog Blondie.
2.
We will plan to have AG's dress finished before she gets here. I will put it on me and have mother hang it as though I wanted an ankle length dress, which should make it about right for AG.
Edie's mother, Helen Robinson was a good seamstress. When I was a child I would always got a dress or a nightgown made by Grandma for my birthday and for Christmas.
3.
I called The Window Shop and they are open on Sundays. Would you like me to make a reservation?
I gather from the schedule below that Alma was treating everybody to lunch on Sunday. I found something about The Window Shop here:
In 1948 it was located at 56 Brattle Street.
4.
I haven't seen AG's garter belt around, though her shoes and stockings are here.
It sounds to me as though Alma, Fred, and AG came and stayed at 65 Mount Auburn Street with Roger and Edie for Christmas - this being where Roger and Edie lived while Roger was at Harvard Law School. As previously noted, I imagine that they all went down to the farm in Halifax for Christmas. But this is all conjecture.
6.
FRIDAY, Jan. 23rd.
Arrivals:
Given Edie's suggestions in her letter, I'm not sure that this schedule is the one that she enclosed in the letter. Perhaps it was a previous schedule that Alma shoved into the envelope, while taking the latest version with her and putting it...somewhere. Maybe with AG's garter belt.
7.
AGS and Laura to Hotel Bellevue
I'm surprised by this because a year later Laura mentioned that she and Alma had stayed with Miss Florence Gould - see:Another reason to wonder if this schedule was the final version.
I'll dash off a quick answer to your letter before Roger and Kay and I leave for Halifax to spend the night with Honey and her family -- six enormous puppies, all blond, five of them males.
Halifax was where the family farm of Edie's family was located. It was usually closed up for the winter. Perhaps Edie's parents and her grandfather Packard opened it up for Christmas, which apparently included Alma, Fred, and AG.
Honey was a cocker spaniel, a daughter of Maggie's dog Blondie.
2.
We will plan to have AG's dress finished before she gets here. I will put it on me and have mother hang it as though I wanted an ankle length dress, which should make it about right for AG.
Edie's mother, Helen Robinson was a good seamstress. When I was a child I would always got a dress or a nightgown made by Grandma for my birthday and for Christmas.
3.
I called The Window Shop and they are open on Sundays. Would you like me to make a reservation?
I gather from the schedule below that Alma was treating everybody to lunch on Sunday. I found something about The Window Shop here:
- https://historycambridge.org/articles/the-window-shop/
In 1948 it was located at 56 Brattle Street.
4.
I haven't seen AG's garter belt around, though her shoes and stockings are here.
It sounds to me as though Alma, Fred, and AG came and stayed at 65 Mount Auburn Street with Roger and Edie for Christmas - this being where Roger and Edie lived while Roger was at Harvard Law School. As previously noted, I imagine that they all went down to the farm in Halifax for Christmas. But this is all conjecture.
6.
FRIDAY, Jan. 23rd.
Arrivals:
Given Edie's suggestions in her letter, I'm not sure that this schedule is the one that she enclosed in the letter. Perhaps it was a previous schedule that Alma shoved into the envelope, while taking the latest version with her and putting it...somewhere. Maybe with AG's garter belt.
7.
AGS and Laura to Hotel Bellevue
I'm surprised by this because a year later Laura mentioned that she and Alma had stayed with Miss Florence Gould - see:Another reason to wonder if this schedule was the final version.
1948-01-10: tour stops---images---audio---transcript---notes---~LINKS~---site navigation
DOCUMENT LISTS FOR PEOPLE:
- ALMA: DOCUMENTS ----- Incoming
- FRED: DOCUMENTS ----- Related
- LAURA: DOCUMENTS ----- Related
- EVA: DOCUMENTS ----- Related
- THE NEXT GENERATION: DOCUMENTS ----- Bill, Kay, Roger, AG (outgoing from Edie)
OTHER DOCUMENT LISTS:
- DOCUMENTS SORTED BY WHERE THEY WERE WRITTEN ----- Eastern Massachusetts
- DOCUMENTS SORTED BY SOURCE ----- Barbara
- AUDIO READINGS OF THE DOCUMENTS: 1940-1949
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