My baby book tells the story of my life from birth to age 3. My mother, Ruth Metzler Longenecker, recorded the details of my early life in a cushiony pink volume with dimensions, 6 x 8 inches, popular in mid-century America. Although the pages allowed for more, Mother stopped at age three. By that time, she had two other daughters born in a five-year span.
I was her first child, so Mother had the time and energy to fill the pages with vital statistics and short vignettes. Unfortunately, my younger sisters and brother did not fare as well. 🙁
Baby books of the 1940s and 50s usually featured “charming, nostalgic mid-century illustrations. Common subjects included chubby, rosy-cheeked infants, anthropomorphic animals, pastel colors, and soft floral or nursery motifs. This era of design was highly detailed, often capturing a sweet, innocent postwar aesthetic.” (Google search)
Mother told me that after the delivery, Grandma Fannie Longenecker, who lived less than a mile away, donned her apron, ready to observe and be of help after the birth of her first grandchild.
We had a scale like this—analogue, not digital—on which Mother placed a metal roasting pan, cushioned with a triple-folded blanket where the baby rested. Using a movable screw on top, she could arrive at the baby’s true weight, minus that of the pan.
Besides Metzler and Longenecker ancestors on my mother and father’s side of the family, there are Brinsers, Horsts, Garbers, Rissers, Landis’s, Harnishes and Shellys—names typical of the immigration of Mennonite families who settled in Lancaster County, PA in the early 1700s. They came to escape religious persecution in Switzerland and Germany and settle in “Penn’s Woods,” Pennsylvania, land which they cleared and cultivated.
I find it curious that this page is imprinted with the words, “Periodic Visits to the Doctor are Health Insurance.” My parents did not have health insurance back then, if ever.
Apparently, I took my first steps at Grandma and Aunt Ruthie Longenecker’s house, probably in their kitchen. Mother observes tthat my parents were “combining,” that day which means they were working the the fields, possibly the 9.1 acres they farmed in Bainbridge, Pennsylvania.
Mother wrote in cursive here, but suffice it to say that I “didn’t see Daddy on this birthday [my third] because he went to pick huckleberries,” a fact she noted at the end.
The month, my birthday month, I look back on my long life with gratitude. I don’t want a large cake, but if I did, it would have dozens and dozens of candles!
Shirley Hershey Showalter, an author you see here often, offers insightful comments.
Shirley and I were both born in July though we are several years apart. (She’s younger!) Mentor and friend, we share a similar Anabaptist heritage, birthplace, and interests. Translated, that means this: We were born in the same county in the same decade, and both of us became English professors—and later—storytellers. She has blazed the trail for me, publishing her own book baby, BLUSH in 2013. You’d be astonished at the other parallels in our life experiences.
Showalter, Shirley Hershey. Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World. Available Amazon.com, 2013. This book is also available at other venues.
Little Shirley Hershey, named for a movie star, grew up with her nose pressed to the window of the glittering world. Three locations shaped her–a family farm, a country school, and Lititz Mennonite Church. She later became a college president and then a foundation executive, but the rosy-cheeked, barefoot farm girl never quite disappeared.
As Willa Cather said, “Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.” This childhood memoir tells the story of a girl who might have left the church but found another way. (Credit: Amazon Books)
My Review:
Shirley Hershey Showalter’s Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets the Glittering World sings the song of her early life as a Mennonite girl in 250 pitch-perfect pages. Born into a family of Lancaster County Swiss Mennonite parents, the author recounts the story of the first 18 years of her girlhood on an 100-acre dairy farm in the 1950s and early ‘60s. The book delivers in its promise to play out her memories of school, church, and home, “the three legs of my childhood stool,” as she puts it. “Each carried both sweet and sour memories” of ways this plain girl fit in and ways she stood out as different. Read more here
The Mindful Grandparent: The Art of Loving Our Children’s Children was published in 2022.
Making memories and fostering relationships with our grandchildren in the midst of a fast-moving culture isn’t easy, and a legacy that lasts isn’t crafted overnight. So how do we as grandparents cultivate strong, meaningful relationships with the children we adore? (blurb)
This book, co-authored with Marilyn McEntyre, tells you why and how. Buy Link
A few years ago, Shirley Showalter initiated a grassroots organization based in Lititz, PA (her hometown) named Grandparents for Love. Their website offer more:
- We are elders and taxpayers living in the Warwick School District who are deeply committed to the youth, teachers, and administration of our beloved community.
- Our purpose is to help elect Warwick School District Board Members who focus on learning and caring for ALL students.
Your turn:
Did your mother keep a baby book for you? Maybe a different keepsake?
What else do you know about Shirley Showalter, author and activist?
Wow, Marian! How wonderful that you have your baby book. If my mother kept one, I’ve never seen it. I have some baby pictures though.
How wonderful that Shirley’s book was a literary trailblazer for you!
You have baby photos, a good thing! You’re right, L. Marie, Shirley’s BLUSH was a literary trailblazer for me. Congrats on being first responded today. 😀
Good morning, Marian! Thank you for sharing some pages from your baby book. Probably my mom kept a book for my brother, the firstborn. 😊 She was fortunate to have her parents and in-laws nearby, too, when all of us were babies.
Lovely reviews of Shirley’s books.
Like you, I had two generations nearby. As they say, “It takes a village. . . !” Thanks for reading my reviews of Shirley’s books, both worthwhile reads, for sure. 😀
My parents had their parents nearby. I had my parents, but no grandparents, across the river, mostly available by phone. 😊
;-D
I feel in the groove for our similarities, although many differences of course. I know both of Marian’s books and Shirley’s as well–and helped to market them. We need a get together sometime!! And I must say my baby book looked very similar, if not the same. 🙂
Thank you for commenting here, as always, Melodie. And, I’m grateful to you for reviewing both of my memoirs and supporting me when I did a book presentation at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Center. I hope you are having success with your most recent publication, A Place in the Fold. 😀
What a delightful post, Marian! I’m an oldest so there’s a baby book for me around here. I’m the keeper of treasures from several generations. I guess I need to organize better. (Shirley is darling, isn’t she!)
Isn’t it interesting that it’s usually the oldest that gets to be the keep of treasures for the family: sometimes artifacts, and sometimes stories. it’s a joy to see you here! 😀
Marian, this was a fun post to read. I especially enjoyed the supporting photographs.
Yes, my mom kept a baby book for both my sister and me. It has a “puffy” cover just like yours. She didn’t get far in mine, as I’m baby number two following my sister only eleven months later.
As to what I know about Shirley: she was the president of Goshen College for about eight (or so?) years. She and her husband, Stuart, are avid travelers, both stateside and international. Like you, she adores her children and grandchildren.
Laurie, you are such a joyous companion on this blog journey. And have been for years.
My sisters and I had a ZOOM call yesterday, and when I announced my blog topic for today, they both groaned. Why? Mom didn’t have time to keep up with their baby books (If they even had one) She was simply too busy! 😀
The baby book! I was born May 1945, in Pottstown PA to an Anabaptist family (Brethren in Christ) and my book looks very similar to yours. After reading Shirley and your books I can relate to so much of what you both wrote. I believe my relatives settled mostly in the Montgomery County area. We made many trips to Mount Joy to shop for material and “coverings” in the day. 🙂
Welcome, Elaine. How happy I am that you can relate to these experiences–and that you told me so here. Blessings! 😀
My mother kept a baby book for me, which looked very similar to yours. She also kept an account of my life, with my life ending in 1957 when my brother was born. The two of us together made her very tired. 😉
Child care, beyond the first baby, is simply exhausting. Our mothers’ ability to keep up is noticeable in the amount of records they kept–or didn’t. Thanks, Liz!
You’re welcome, Marian! I was a “one and done” mother.
Ha!
I had a baby book very similar and still have it. I should dig it out one day. I still have the cards sent to my parents when I was born. My mom kept my book up just as yours did, but my younger siblings were not so lucky. Our mothers had lovely handwriting.
Yes, Mother put several cards into the box the baby book came in. One was from Dad’s Uncle Frank that showed a new father named “Ray” using a washboard to clean dirty diapers. And behind him a clothes line with diapers drying and bluebird overhead.
You can find the early blog post with clean diapers here: https://marianbeaman.com/2013/10/03/clean-sheets-its-a-breeze/ 😀
Thanks for that link! I love that card!! I must drag mine out too.
I am in the process of moving to a much smaller place, so have begun downsizing, which, alas, includes my extensive library. I will be keeping yours and Shirley‘s memoirs, however. I had the privilege of meeting Shirley at a writers‘ conference here in Winnipeg. I do wish I could meet you as well, Marian!
I wish that too. I don’t know when or how, but how lovely it would be to meet you, Elfrieda. I am touched by the fact you are keeping my memoir.
Thanks for the comment here and for the link to your son-in-law’s memorial service. The music was soft and lovely. Anita was so brave and self-assured when even in her grief she spoke a tribute to her dear husband, including Tennyson’s “Crossing the Bar.” And, I assume it was the pastor that spoke of both hope and lament from the book of Psalms. Blessed hope amid the deep, deep sorrow! ((( )))
I am the youngest of four boys. Mom was the one who contributed mostly to the baby book. I suspect that my baby book is similar to that of those children who have older siblings. Each brother’s baby book had lesss material in it. My brothers and I understood that this had nothing to do with loving one child more than another. It was the reality of not having as much time to devote to baby books as our parents tried to manage it all. I was fascinated by the locks of hair they took the time to put in our books.
What strikes me is that you have a baby book at all, Pete. Even as the fourth in a line of boys, your mom took the time to put locks of hair into your baby books. A key line: “My brothers and I understood that this had nothing to do with loving one child more than another.” Lack of time was the culprit.
You come from sturdy (and thoughtful) stock. But you know that already, Pete! 😀
I so enjoyed reading this piece Marian, It took me back to my early days. My family was poor, father had only just become and English teacher after the 2nd W.W. ended. And as you may know in England teachers were extremely poorly paid. And no, mother had no baby books. I was the youngest of three. One of my earliest memories is my parents, brother and sister all living with Mum’s mother. We had no electricity and I used to be carried to bed by candle light.
Thanks for telling me about your humble origins. But you haven’t let that stop you, spinning family stories and fiction into gold. In America, teachers are still poorly paid compared to other professions requiring college degrees.
May you have a joyous day, Joy! 😀
What a lovely birthday surprise, Marian! And happy birthday to you! I meant to reply earlier, but our wifi was down. I love the way you are combining your nostalgia posts with promotion of the work of others. I have a baby book somewhere around here, and I think it has the same kind of cheruby post-war art. Illustrations from magazines and children’s lit of that era all had this look of innocence and wonder–and today it’s noticeable that the faces of children of other races are entirely missing.
Thank you, dear kindred spirit, for using your gifts to connect, even as the birthday candles grow in number!
Thank you and Happy Birthday, Shirley! 85 candles for me and for you, edging closer to 80! We are so fortunate.
You are right! Back then, our society was myopic in some ways, focusing only representing a single race. Now we know otherwise. 😀
You inspired me to pull out my own baby book to take a peek, haha. I was born in 1960, but the book’s illustrations are similar, definitely rosy cheeks! My book dropped off after six months, but I am grateful to have a few of my milestones and there are several photos still taped in there. I love that your Grandma Fannie was ready to go with her apron and enthusiasm about her first grandchild. ☺️ Being a new grandparent, the Mindful Grandparent looks interesting, and how fun that it is written by a close friend who shares so many similarities with you. Happy birthday, Marian!
Melanie, even though your baby book drops off at 6 months, you have plenty of stories and memories that fill in the gaps.
You would find Shirley and Marilyn’s The Mindful Grandparent a boon to your grand-parenting experience. It covers a wide swath of ages and interests. 😀
That sounds perfect! Thanks, Marian.
What a wonderful slice of nostalgia to have Marian. I’ve managed to snatch whatever of any of our family pictures there were, and there weren’t many – sadly. I did find a little card the hospital gave my mother with a picture of me, stating my birth stats, and that was it. I was the first born too, but no baby book here. Our families have certainly given us much to write about, lol. 🥰
So you have a newborn photo and a few other photos. I guess we either have too much attention (some good, some not) or not enough attention as children. Either way, we can spin our history into memoir gold. You are right: “Our families have certainly given us much to write about, lol.” 🥰
Happy belated birthday, Marian. How nice you have that baby book. I have a small booklet that has some initial information about my birth and illnesses, which I just stumbled upon a couple of months ago here in Belgium. Shirley sure has some fascinating stories and experiences and a way to touch her readers!
How great that you could connect with your Belgium family and find your “baby” booklet. And thanks for the good wishes and taking time to connect here–in spite of your busy schedule.
I just checked where you are roaming. It looks like Bavaria, Germany, the location of some of my ancestry. 😀