Herman: 1940s Lonely Hearts Search (Chickenhouse Chronicles) - Softcover

Affield, Wendell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1945902000 ISBN 13: 9781945902000

Publisher: Whispering Petals, 2017

Synopsis

WWII veteran Herman Affield returns to his bleak farm in northern Minnesota and begins a four year search for a wife through lonely hearts club publications. Follow his search as the years tick by. Barbara, alias, Linda, a New York pianist, finally answers his letters and moves to the farm with four young children in 1949.
In Part II of this first book, explore hundreds of advertisements and the key of names for "The Exchange," the 1945 lonely hearts club catalogue included in this book. You may find a relative. Some have suggested that this is an excellent glimpse of post WWII women's plight in the United States--a possible text for Women's Studies programs.

About this title

From the Author:

In storytelling we find meaning to the past and preserve that past for future generations. While researching Herman's early life I came to understand the man he was. More than sixty years later I recall his gentle side to a child, but also his anger. I think now that rage may have been grounded in his childhood and war trauma.
He loved all his children. In a 1960 letter he wrote, ...if I lose my family I'll sell everything I got as there will be nothing to look forward to, nothing to work for. In plain English I'll just give up, quit.
In "Herman, 1940s Lonely Hearts Search," learn about the harsh conditions Herman was raised in, his war-time experience, and his quest to find a wife. In studying the 1940s singles catalogues I came to better understand my mother's plight as a divorced woman with four children in post WWII society.

From the Back Cover:

Herman was raised on an 80 acre farm in northern Minnesota with no indoor plumbing or electricity. He had an 8th grade education and minimal social graces. VA records document his WWII combat trauma. From 1945-1949 he searched for a wife through singles publications.
Barbara came from a cosmopolitan New York background. She was a concert pianist who had studied in Europe and Juilliard School of Music. She met Herman through "Cupid's Columns" and with four children moved to the farm in 1949. A few months later, Barbara's mother wrote,
Apr. 29, '50--Dear Gov Dewey, Please help us find our schizophrenic daughter and her five small children. She has been on welfare in New York City....

About this edition

• Publisher: Whispering Petals
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1945902000
• ISBN 13: 9781945902000
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 156