Ruth Campbell Smith 1925-27 Diaries

My grandmother, Ruth Campbell Smith (1892 - 1972) kept a diary for many years. I am posting her entries from 1925 - 1927 in this blog. Her family included sons Dale (1916 - 2004), Dick (1918 - 1971), Albert (1920 - 1979), and Ned (1923 - 1976), and later daughters Marjorie (1925 - 2010) and Eleanor (1929 - 2011). Her husband was Gilbert (1889 - 1937) and they lived in Indianapolis. I hope you enjoy this glimpse of what it was like to be a housewife and mother in the 1920's.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Tuesday, March 3, 1925

Tuesday, March 3, 1925
Warmer

Stretched curtains and cleaned walls and ceilings and got an awful headache. I read a little and was all done up. After supper we put down the new rugs. My what a change it made. We feel like white folks again. The boys seem real glad we got them and I hope will try to be careful of them. Were all anxious to help get them down.

(I'm sure Ruth's comment about how she felt after putting down the new rugs and "spring cleaning" the rooms would more than raise a few eyebrows today. I assume she was no more or less prejudiced than anyone else in 1925.

I wonder if it was the physical labor of the cleaning or what she used to clean with that caused her to get an "awful headache". Regardless, she seems quite prone to getting headaches.)