Professor Hamilton's Diary: Dec. 10, 1935

His entry is minimal; did Gwennie want a Shirley Temple doll for Christmas?

Professor Hamilton’s diary entry today was one word: “Classes,” underlined. That was it. So I will take this opportunity to wonder about what his daughters wanted for Christmas. Gwennie was seven, Mary Elizabeth was three. I bet Gwennie was hankering for the most popular doll in America, the Ideal Toy Company’s Shirley Temple.

Paid subscribers can read on about this remarkable doll, which single-handedly saved Ideal from bankruptcy, based on the most successful child actress of the 1930s movies. Click below to upgrade.

A reminder, readers, that only paid subscribers will learn what happened to Professor Hamilton and his family at the end of the year. Give yourself an early Christmas gift and sign up today for just $5 a month or $50 a year. That way you will also be ready to enjoy the diaries of Mrs. Ross, a Washington, D.C. matron writing about the early days of World War II in 1942; Walter E. Askew, chief of police in Newnan, Ga. in 1930; and Myra Jackson, a young mother living in Petrey, Alabama in 1932. For various reasons, the diaries are incomplete, but each provides fascinating insights into America during those very turbulent years. I am very excited to share them with subscribers!

Kaufman’s Department Store was advertising 18-inch Shirley Temple dolls for $4.95 ($117 in current bucks) or 25 cents a week. The ad above was clipped from The Reading Times via newspapers.com.