The one where the girls visit Papa’s junk shop.
Listen to the episode
Join Merav and Batya as they delve into all things All-of-A-Kind Family. This episode features a deep dive into paper dolls, an explanation of the economics of the junk trade, and the introduction of mysterious reader favorite, Charlie.
This episode also features a deep dive into the world of paper dolls.
Our chapter in summary
The action begins after a brief narrative description of Papa’s junk shop and his work there. Bored because it’s raining, the girls go to visit Papa’s shop and the peddlers there, including the intriguing Charlie. It turns out that the shop has recently taken in a load of books, and the girls spend a happy time looking through them to pick out some to keep. While returning home, they decide to spend the rest of the afternoon playing Library with their new books.
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Show Notes:
Where is Papa’s shop?
We were able to locate Papa’s shop using the address of 79 Avenue D. Take a look on Google maps.
The central stove at Papa’s shop
The stove in a place to gather and Papa is demonstrating the Jewish principle of hachnasat orchim, welcoming in guests, by providing a centralized place for the peddlers to get warm and dry. This serves the peddlers’ needs, but also gives Papa a central place in their lives as a kind of depot and distribution center.
By creating this spot for the peddlers to gather, Papa is able to give them common cause, as well as start to foster community for this disparate group of hard-working immigrants, who might otherwise never socialize or start to form bonds of community. By providing a space that is neither home nor “on the job” per se, Papa is creating a third space, a liminal place where they can share their concerns and support one another.
Quilting from Fat Quarters
When larger pieces of fabric are cut up there often would be pieces left. Quilters, being enterprising, started employing these “fat quarters” to make pieced quilts in an era where household scrap quilts were falling out of fashion in favor of quilts that were made for the joy of quilting. Here’s an interesting history of the fat quarter.
What’s a Landsmannshaft?
A landsmannschaft or a mutual aid society was frequently based around your place of origin in “the old country” meaning that it was comprised of members who were working folks that happened to come from your home town. People seeking advice, trade goods, training and loans would often turn to their fellow countrymen for support.
Linen and wool
The prohibition against “mixed fabrics” has caused a lot of angst and misunderstanding but it’s literally as simple as not co-mingling linen with wool. You can read about the Jewish observation of this custom here.
Ella reads Dickens
One of the most prolific writers of his day, Charles Dickens was still very popular in 1912, some 40 years after his death. It’s probably Mama encouraging the girls to read from the classical canon, but Ella seems to really enjoy Dickens, and even notices that there are titles in the box set at Papa’s shop that she hasn’t read. Mostly his collected short work.
A book of fairy tales
Charlotte is thrilled to find a book of fairy tales in among the treasures in Papa’s book pile. Illustrated books were having a heyday, with full color editions of Hans Christian Andersen stories, marchen by The Brothers Grimm, Andrew Lang’s often racist Rainbow Fairy Books and early editions of modern American fairy tales, like L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Paper dolls
The Dolls You Love was a real book and pristine copies survive and are sometimes up for auction. The set came with six dress-able paper dolls, the five children, and their nurse. The girls are extremely lucky to have found a used copy with the pages intact, so that they can do the cutting out to their standards. The book would still have been popular, as it was published only two years earlier in 1910.
Recycling cloth and upcycling
Papa’s peddler’s offer rag bag clothes as part of their wares, and Papa is probably sorting the rags not just for value but also for shatnez, a Jewish principal of not wearing or benefitting from garments made with a blend of wool and linen. He may alo be selling sorted woolens to factories that will recycle them back into yarn for manufacturing. People still break down clothing to reclaim fibers.
Racial stereotyping of the peddlers
Written in 1951, All-of-a-Kind Family is not without broad caricature and even insensitivity in the depiction of these hard-working peddlers who are making a living in a world unfriendly to immigrants. In many cases these men would have come to the United States for opportunity, but we are seeing them through the eyes of children, who view them critically, if affectionately. Taylor also shows the peddlers as empathetic, and intelligent.
Charlie’s mysterious past
The girls, particularly Ella, are devoted to Charlie, one of Papa’s peddlers. While Charlie is presented as part of the group, he’s also singled out because he plays with the children and spends time helping them to pick out books, and throwing books back and forth with a restless Henny. Charlie disappears from time to time, but Papa relies on him and treats him as a right hand man, and welcomes him back.
Other references in this episode:
The song Common People, by the band Pulp. Loulie Richmond Stebbins Henderson’s book The Flight Brothers and The Magic Aeroplane are available to read on The Internet Archive, Tom Tierney’s Great Empresses and Queens and Glamorous Move Stars of the Thirties.
Errata:
Merav references a paper doll book from 1982 of the courtship and wedding outfits of Princess Diana and Prince Charles. It’s not actually the Tom Tierney, which is this one, but it is The Princess Diana Paper Doll Book of Fashion. And here is the infamous bouquet page. Merav’s book is by Clarissa Harlowe and Mary Anna Bedford with illustrations by Dona Granata, who is a well known Hollywood costume designer.