Store Bought Clothes

Last weekend my younger brother went home with a box of negatives our older brother found when he cleaned out the wash house at our folks' before the farm sale.
Les has a scanner that works with negatives and he has been sharing some of the results of his efforts. The above picture is of our mother, Ruth, and her sisters, Lois and Evelyn. (We haven't yet definitively identified the little boy Aunt Evelyn is holding.) Looking at the dresses they are wearing, Les wondered, "Could they afford store-bought clothes?" I told him I remembered reading in Mom's diary from that time that they did, indeed, buy some of their clothes.

Here is her entry from September 24, 1936: "Done up the work. Went to Villisca, Clarinda and Shenandoah. Lois and I sold our calves. I got $9.50. Lois got $11.50 for hers. Got us some new clothes."
And the next entry, the 25th: Lois and I sent for us some new slippers and pocket books. Evelyn sent for a new blouse."

Perhaps the one she has on in this photo? I love seeing these old pictures. They are such treasures.

And how well I remember ordering clothes from the catalogs when I was young. Just as Grandma Delphia made most of her daughters' clothes, our Mom also made most of mine and Betty's. But for some fancier duds for special occasions, it was exciting to order those store bought-clothes.