In grandma's day

An account, focusing on the leisure time activities, of the life of Valerie McNamara who grew up in the Midwest during the 1940s.

Recalls what it was like to travel from Alaska to Texas as part of a military family in the 1940s and some of the differences in how people got around then and now.

Recalls what it was like to help out in the family grocery store and to go shopping in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the 1940s.

While focusing on home life, this account presents the story of Geneva Lewis, an African-American who grew up in segregated DeQuincy, Louisiana, during the 1940s.

Recalls what it was like for a young African-American girl to help prepare meals for her large family living in Madison, Illinois, in the 1930s and 1940s.

Recalls what it was like to go to both a public and a Catholic school in Illinois in the 1940s.