The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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NEW YORK, Thursday—Yesterday afternoon, Mrs. Morgenthau and I drove down to a little craftshop which has been started two miles beyond Quantico, Va., on the main highway to Richmond. Here they are collecting handwork done by individual Virginia craftsmen. They have a good many hand-woven things, such as baby blankets, ties and the like. A number of individuals are sending in articles like baby garments, summer hats, bonnets and aprons. One potter, who has his own kiln, had some rather nice pieces of pottery on exhibition. A brown jug with some brown mugs looked as if it would fit into some cottage very well. A blue bean pot, while not the color I usually associate with Boston baked beans, still was very pleasant in color and had a delightful shape.

A group of Indians awaited us and presented me with a vase and a bowl. They had samples of their traditional bead work and basket work. One very nice old lady was demonstrating with her spinning wheel. She told me she thought she had carded and spun thousands of pounds of wool in her lifetime, but that she now no longer had her own sheep and the wool was not as good. That amused me, for it sounded like my mother-in-law, who believes that only when a thing is produced on her own farm is it really good.

There were men making baskets and caning chairs. I should say that the skills of the people in Virginia are excellent, but that they need some help in design and producing original articles for sale.

Yesterday the news came to us of a new grandson born in Boston. We are particularly happy to have everything go well with Anne and the baby. I hope soon to have a glimpse of this newest grandchild.

Back in Washington in plenty of time to greet our son and daughter, Elliott and Ruth, from Texas. They only spent a few hours with us, but it was a joy to see them, for it has been a long time since I have been with them.

Miss Thompson and I came to New York City by the midnight train last night and are trying to do a few errands today and then go to see a housing project in Red Hook, in which Mrs. Samuel Rosenman is deeply interested and where they are holding a meeting this afternoon. I am afraid there is no chance of the President joining me in Hyde Park this weekend, but these days everything must be subordinated to the work to be done. We will return to Washington Sunday evening.

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1940, by UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, June 7, 1940

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project

Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

Published with permission from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

TEI-P5 edition published on April 28, 2017.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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