Terrific Ten-Page Letter From A Widowed Los Angeles Kindergarten Teacher To Her Sister In Virginia

MRS LEWIS "MAMIE" J. ADAMS

Publication: Written by Mrs Lewis "Mamie" J Adams, 1937, Los Angeles

Ten 5" x 8" sheets written on one side only. The airmail envelope is franked with an orange 6-cent airmail stamp (Scott #C19) and canceled with a Los Angeles machine slogan (“Airmail Saves Time”) postmark featuring a biplane and dated 16 December 1937. The letter and envelope are in nice shape; the edges of several leaves have some staining. Mamie’s letter is absolutely brimming with news about her two-teacher kindergarten class of 100 students (50 in the morning and a different 50 in the afternoon) and its giant fall circus held in the unnamed school’s new auditorium. She includes descriptions—and occassionally small drawings—of the kindergarten band (yellow ‘uniform’ coats with white braid and yellow caps, triangles, cymbals, bells, tambourines, drums), student animals (elephants, camels, ponies), student clowns (dressed in pink, blue red, yellow, lavender, and green), circus train, a merry-go-round, and nail keg ponies. She also briefly mentions the school structure (“six grades and the kindergarten [with] three first grades”) and its Parent-Teacher Association, while providing considerable detail about attending mandatory training at the Teachers Institute on Saturdays. She concludes the letter on a somewhat maudlin note reflecting that she and two of her five good friends had become widows, and her old home was “ruined with hitched on additions to rent. Of course we haven’t owned it for a great many years.” Very good copies of the sheets and original envelope.

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