Remember When

This book called to me from the top shelf of the history section in our local used bookstore. The printing on the spine is so faded that it's difficult to read. I was intrigued by the flowered cover so I pulled it down to have a look. When I cracked it open it smelled like slightly musty paper, printer's ink, book glue and coffee. It is a fantastic smell.

 

It is titled Remember When and it is a book of Edwardian era photos by a woman named M. Therese Bonney. There are sections dedicated to the royal families of the time, sports and fashions of the day, transportation and a few other random surprises. I immediately fell in love with it and knew that it needed to come home with me.

Photo credit: M. Therese Bonney

When I came across a couple of pictures of women in old-timey bathing suits it reminded me of this picture that my mom recently sent to me of my Grandma Cassidy (then Valeda Jennison), her sister Donna and her brother David (one of my dad's namesakes).

Grandma is the one in the middle. This picture was taken in Portland, Oregon around 1926 or '27--just a few years before Remember When was published in 1933. I wonder if my grandma had heard of the Empress Eugénie or knew what a "rubber neck wagon" was.

If she were alive, I might sit down and chat with her about Amelia Earhart, the "days when hats were hats" or the Romanovs.

I think she'd like looking through my book.