6 Handwritten Diaries Bower Hofstead Nashville TN 1936 Travel Diary Olympics
Item History & Price
WELCOME TO SALLY’S DIARIES: Thereare 6 diaries in this lot today and all of them belonged to theBower’s/Hofstead family of Nashville Tennessee. Allof them were written byEllen Bowers of Nashville Tennessee. Ellen was born on May 4th, 1917 to the parents of Lafayette Appleby Bowers and Eda Jane Beekman.She graduated from Ward-Belmont College in 1935. There are severalyear books on the web with her photo inside. She married James WarnerHofstead in 1940. James had quite the distingu...ished career. He was aCaptain in the US Marine Corps during WWII, had his own private lawpractice and then became President of the president emeritus WishySales Inc., from 1985. Thediaries represent the years: 1928, 1930, 1936, 1937, 1942 and 1947. The onlydiary I read was the 1936 travel diary and the others I just glancedthrough to get pages to scan. Theincredible thing concerning the travel diary is that she’s inEurope when the 1936 Olympics were going on. She attends the Olympicsone of the days but the best part of all is that while on the trainshe meets the Japanese Olympic Basketball team and in the front ofthe diary there are numerous Japanese signatures and when I looked afew of them up sure enough they were the Japanese athletics from theOlympics. Thetravel diary is full of handwritten entries, the others are fullto partially full.Here’s how they play out: The 1928 diary begins on April 28thright before her birthday as she got this diary for a present. It hashandwritten entries from then all the way through to the end of theyear. The 1930 diary has 100 days of writing, the 1936 travel diaryhas over 80 pages of writing, the1937 diary is only about ¼ full, the1942 diary is practically full with only about 20 blank days, and the1947 diary is just an engagement diary with appointments, etc. on thedays and I would say it’s about ½ full.
Asfar as the travel diary is concerned she sails on the S. S. Manhattanfor Europe in thesummer of 1936. Shelists her address as 2115 Belmont Blvd. When I went to look her up onthe genealogy sites on the web, I found her on the ships manifest, the one heading home, which landed in Quebec Canada on August 25th, 1936. That makes her only 19 years old when taking this trip. Again, the travel diary contains about 80 handwritten pages and the diaryentries begin while she lands in Paris and the trip continues on withtrips to Geneva, Montreux, Interlaken, Lucerne, Lugano, (two littletowns before Milan but I can’t quite make out their names), Milan, Rome, Naples, Florence, Venice, Budapest, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Heidelberg, Mayence (Mainz), Cologne, Brussels, The Hague, London, Stratford, Grasmere, Edinburgh, and the entries end when she gets offthe ship in Quebec with entries for everyday on board the shipheading home. She must be with a group touring as there is awonderful group photo that I found between the pages. Asstated above there are five pages in the beginning with autographsand many of those are Japanese. Then the entries begin, againarriving in Havre. Here are a few examples of those entries……1936“June26th, (the first two days before this are filled with trips to the opera, Notre Dame, shopping, etc. They are staying at the HotelContinental.) Cayce, Caroline and I wandered to the linen store and to the shops along theChamps Elysees. Had lunch at the hotel and then Peggy, Caroline and Iwent to Chunn’s (?)and the other perfumeplace and went on toPam Pam’s later on. We took in the night spots tonight, LesOublietts, The Black Ball and Moulin Rouge. Gaston our guide.”(Next day they headto Versailles and had lunch under the trees)“June29th, Drove out to Fontainebleau this morning and stopped for lunch at anattractive inn near there. We arrived back at the hotel in time fordinner after which Caroline and I went to the Folies Bergere whichwere really quite shocking as the dancers were quite undressed exceptfor the fig leaf. Most diverting evening.” “June30th, Left at 12:50 for Geneva and arrived here tonight at 9:00. It is morebeautiful than I ever dreamed and we have a room with a balconyoverlooking the lake. We walked around the lake and had the chocolatesoda which was most delicious. Bon Suir!” “July2nd, Hotel Eden Room 56. We went to the assembly and heard therepresentatives from Uruguay and Denmark. If the speech was inEnglish it was translated to French and visa versa. The delegates hadspecial ear phones that translated simultaneously. Had lunch and thentook the boat from Geneva here. Went over to the Kursad after dinnerfor a while. It is raining off and on now. Kodak films everywhere. Nosoap anywhere. Huge strawberries.”(While in Milan she saw a parade of Italian soldiers returning fromEthiopia)“July16th, We took the Amalfi drive this morning and stopped at Pompeii to seethe ruins. We then drove on to Naples (Peggy, June and I in thediminutive Fiat) for lunch and went to the museum afterwards. We metMiss Corinne’s party today and learned of Margaret’s Craig’sdeath.” “July21st, Venice. Left Florence this morning and arrived here just as a stormbrewing on the grand canal. Lots of the good friends got wet andCaroline lost her hat in the canal. Had dinner and then Peggy, Lou, Mary Ann and I played Bridge.”“July27th, Prague. Rode on the train all day had most interesting talk with theJapanese Olympic Basketball team. Played Bridge and slept for awhile. Lou, Peggy, Ms. Kitty and I played bridge and then Case, andPeggy, and I went for a Cake. Had very strange experience……….”“August1st, Berlin. Packedthis morning and after a hectic lunch set out for the Olympic’s.Everything was most impressive and Peggy and I had grand seats andwere also fortunate at dinner. The parade was impressive but thedance festival all but excelled it in that respect. We barely madeour train and are sitting up all night.” (Onthe 18thshe gets on the ship to sail home and has a handwritten entry forevery day on the ship until she arrives in Quebec on August 25th)“August18th, The open sea again! After much train difficulty we arrived in plentyof time and the good Duchess of Richmond pulled out at about noon. Wejust fooled around after lunch. Read “Night in Gl____” and thenjust fooled around again. Everything stops at twelve so it’s bedfor me.” “August24th, Went up and fooled around in the gym most of the morning and thenread and walked this afternoon. Had the farewell dinner tonight andsang and did much eating. Had the good waiter sign our menu.” Thereis so much more than what I’ve quoted here, not just the traveldiary but all the diaries. As far as the condition most are in goodshape but a few have had their latches cut as if someone lost the keyand had to open them that way. The front cover on the on the spine ofthe travel diary is torn and then the front cover on the 1928 diaryhas completely pulled away from the binding.
Asfar as the travel diary is concerned she sails on the S. S. Manhattanfor Europe in thesummer of 1936. Shelists her address as 2115 Belmont Blvd. When I went to look her up onthe genealogy sites on the web, I found her on the ships manifest, the one heading home, which landed in Quebec Canada on August 25th, 1936. That makes her only 19 years old when taking this trip. Again, the travel diary contains about 80 handwritten pages and the diaryentries begin while she lands in Paris and the trip continues on withtrips to Geneva, Montreux, Interlaken, Lucerne, Lugano, (two littletowns before Milan but I can’t quite make out their names), Milan, Rome, Naples, Florence, Venice, Budapest, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Heidelberg, Mayence (Mainz), Cologne, Brussels, The Hague, London, Stratford, Grasmere, Edinburgh, and the entries end when she gets offthe ship in Quebec with entries for everyday on board the shipheading home. She must be with a group touring as there is awonderful group photo that I found between the pages. Asstated above there are five pages in the beginning with autographsand many of those are Japanese. Then the entries begin, againarriving in Havre. Here are a few examples of those entries……1936“June26th, (the first two days before this are filled with trips to the opera, Notre Dame, shopping, etc. They are staying at the HotelContinental.) Cayce, Caroline and I wandered to the linen store and to the shops along theChamps Elysees. Had lunch at the hotel and then Peggy, Caroline and Iwent to Chunn’s (?)and the other perfumeplace and went on toPam Pam’s later on. We took in the night spots tonight, LesOublietts, The Black Ball and Moulin Rouge. Gaston our guide.”(Next day they headto Versailles and had lunch under the trees)“June29th, Drove out to Fontainebleau this morning and stopped for lunch at anattractive inn near there. We arrived back at the hotel in time fordinner after which Caroline and I went to the Folies Bergere whichwere really quite shocking as the dancers were quite undressed exceptfor the fig leaf. Most diverting evening.” “June30th, Left at 12:50 for Geneva and arrived here tonight at 9:00. It is morebeautiful than I ever dreamed and we have a room with a balconyoverlooking the lake. We walked around the lake and had the chocolatesoda which was most delicious. Bon Suir!” “July2nd, Hotel Eden Room 56. We went to the assembly and heard therepresentatives from Uruguay and Denmark. If the speech was inEnglish it was translated to French and visa versa. The delegates hadspecial ear phones that translated simultaneously. Had lunch and thentook the boat from Geneva here. Went over to the Kursad after dinnerfor a while. It is raining off and on now. Kodak films everywhere. Nosoap anywhere. Huge strawberries.”(While in Milan she saw a parade of Italian soldiers returning fromEthiopia)“July16th, We took the Amalfi drive this morning and stopped at Pompeii to seethe ruins. We then drove on to Naples (Peggy, June and I in thediminutive Fiat) for lunch and went to the museum afterwards. We metMiss Corinne’s party today and learned of Margaret’s Craig’sdeath.” “July21st, Venice. Left Florence this morning and arrived here just as a stormbrewing on the grand canal. Lots of the good friends got wet andCaroline lost her hat in the canal. Had dinner and then Peggy, Lou, Mary Ann and I played Bridge.”“July27th, Prague. Rode on the train all day had most interesting talk with theJapanese Olympic Basketball team. Played Bridge and slept for awhile. Lou, Peggy, Ms. Kitty and I played bridge and then Case, andPeggy, and I went for a Cake. Had very strange experience……….”“August1st, Berlin. Packedthis morning and after a hectic lunch set out for the Olympic’s.Everything was most impressive and Peggy and I had grand seats andwere also fortunate at dinner. The parade was impressive but thedance festival all but excelled it in that respect. We barely madeour train and are sitting up all night.” (Onthe 18thshe gets on the ship to sail home and has a handwritten entry forevery day on the ship until she arrives in Quebec on August 25th)“August18th, The open sea again! After much train difficulty we arrived in plentyof time and the good Duchess of Richmond pulled out at about noon. Wejust fooled around after lunch. Read “Night in Gl____” and thenjust fooled around again. Everything stops at twelve so it’s bedfor me.” “August24th, Went up and fooled around in the gym most of the morning and thenread and walked this afternoon. Had the farewell dinner tonight andsang and did much eating. Had the good waiter sign our menu.” Thereis so much more than what I’ve quoted here, not just the traveldiary but all the diaries. As far as the condition most are in goodshape but a few have had their latches cut as if someone lost the keyand had to open them that way. The front cover on the on the spine ofthe travel diary is torn and then the front cover on the 1928 diaryhas completely pulled away from the binding.
