Fireside chats, Shirley Temple's first film and Dust Storms

Compare and contrast 1934 to 2024

This is the link to the card above Ebay

Happy New Year!

One of my fellow authors shows New Year postcards from her family on social media. I wish I had some. I don’t, most likely because everything burned in the Avoca fire of 1952 or because no one saved them in the first place. The Farm on Badger Creek, Memories of a Midwest Girlhood, is a book that I enjoyed and used to compare and contrast to the manuscript I wrote. The book is published by Wisconsin History Press, and written by Peggy Perlman Marxens. Most of her postcards are from a collection of ancestors who homesteaded in Manitoba, Canada, from 1901 -1911.

Through my own research, I learned a new word: Deltiology, which is the study and collection of postcards.

There was a heyday or Golden Era of postcards from 1905 to the First World War.

I’m betting my older readers recall sending postcards, while my younger readers do not know the advantages of sending one. There was a postcard craze, particularly popular among rural and small-town women in Northern states of the U.S. When RFD (Rural Free Delivery) became available, postcard usage increased and spiked between 1907 and 1910. Before this time, people living in the country had to go to town to get their mail. Later, the word Free was dropped, and it became simply: Rural Route. I recall addressing my Yaeger grandparents, Aunt Nina and Uncle Vern, with a Rural Route address. As recently as 2017, when Janette was in hospice, I wanted to send some photographs to my former mother-in-law, and I asked my ex-husband if his mother’s address was still RR 2 Box 115, Grand Forks, ND. But it wasn’t. It had been updated with a long number and a street name.

A postcard to a friend or relative was almost akin to a short text to someone today.

I know that Janette’mother sent her postcards when she was in college and nursing school.

The U.S. Postal Service regulated the size of postcards, and postage was cheaper.

End of the Year Review of 1934

I love end-of-year reviews, so for this post, I will try to tie in my manuscript and Janette’s life with an End-of-the-Year Review for 1934.

Janette and most of her siblings were members of the “Silent Generation,” also known as the “Traditionalists.” These people were born between Roughly ~1923 - ~ 1946, between what Tom Brochaw called the Great Generations and the Baby Boomers.

Though, Janette would have been between 3 and 4 years old and most likely wouldn’t have any conscious memory of the events in 1934. I will give you a quick review of some news items from 1934.

In last week’s news is the death and life of Jimmy Carter, who was born in 1924. Many of the documentary TV shows and videos say that Carter was born into a home that didn’t have running water. Well, I don’t know about Janette’s first home in the city of Mitchell, S.D., but the house the Minehart’s rented home in Avoca didn’t have running water either.

Here are some significant things that happened in 1934:

(Photos unknown no copyright)

Alcatraz Isalnd becomes a federal prison. Given this high security and the island's location in the cold waters and strong currents of San Francisco Bay, prison operators believed Alcatraz to be escape-proof and America's most secure prison.

FDR is into his second year of delivering Fireside chats

President Franklin D. Roosevelt Broadcasting his First Fireside Chat Regarding the Banking Crisis, from the White House, Washington, D.C.

The fireside chats were a series of evening radio addresses given by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, between 1933 and 1944.

Here are links to two of Roosevelt’s chats:

• June 28, 1934: Fireside Chat 5: On Addressing the Critics

• September 30, 1934: Fireside Chat 6: On Government and Capitalism

Shirley Temple's 1st Film

A promo photo for Shirley Temple’s First Film, “ Stand Up & Cheer.”

Shirley Temple appears in her 1st feature-length film, "Stand Up & Cheer."

The film is about efforts undertaken during the Great Depression to boost the country's morale. It is a vehicle for a string of vaudeville acts and a few musical numbers. The film is best known for providing the first big breakthrough role for legendary child actress Shirley Temple. A little-known bit player before the film, by the end of the year, she appeared in 10 movies, including four starring roles in major feature-length films.

The actress was born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014

Janette’s cousin, Shirley Minehart, was born September 1, 1936, and the story I’ve heard is that she was named after Shirley Temple. And she was always mom’s adorable younger cousin.

Dust Storms

On May 11, 1934, a massive storm sends millions of tons of topsoil flying from across the parched Great Plains region of the United States as far east as New York, Boston and Atlanta.

I didn’t realize this, but the dust blew as far east as the Statue of Liberty in New York City. And also to Boston and Atlanta.

Janette didn’t say much about dust storms. However, her cousin, Donald Minehart, who lived in Mitchell, S.D., wrote about this in his book Fields of Dreams. There are links to Donald’s book on both Lulu Hardcover and Lulu ebook and Amazon . (The Lulu links are much cheaper.)

Here is what Janette’s cousin Donald wrote in his book:

“In 1934 we had our first great dust storm. As a robust ten year old I was enthralled by the high winds that whipped up the dust from the surrounding farms and sent the stinging particles blowing into my face. I was enchanted by that first major dust storm that hit us in July of 1934. The sky grew dark about two in the afternoon and the wind kept up at a brisk pace, perhaps 25 to 30 miles per hour. By three pm the street lights were turned on and the dust kept coming on thicker and thicker.

My brothers and I ran out into the street and we ran into the wind shouting for more and more. It was difficult for us to understand our parents’ general mood of depression with this turn of events. What we found to be a subject of great interest because it was different, they saw in terms that we did not understand.

This was my first realization that my parents’ world and mine were not coincident.”

I was struck to learn that the dust storms reached New York City and the Statue of Liberty.

Above is a screenshot of the video with the link below. I found it incredible that the dust blurred out the Statue of Liberty is what I found incredible.

Here is the Dust Bowl video from which I took this screen shot. It is narrated by Charles Osgood.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you are off to a great 2025. I will soon have news of a prospective publishing date.

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Yours,

Naomi

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