Professor Hamilton's Diary: Oct. 18, 1935

He oversees a faculty dinner; huge crippled children's benefit planned

The Hamiltons had another packed day of work and music activities. He squeezed in time to get a haircut downtown. That evening, the dinner meeting of the chapter of the American Association of University Professors was held, with him presiding. The guest speaker was A.D. Keator, the city librarian, who addressed the eighteen attendees on the subject of “college libraries.” Even though it was Friday night, he came home and typed up his list of newspaper contacts for Columbia University Press and didn’t go to bed until 1 a.m.

The front-page news in the Reading Times was about a huge charity event benefiting crippled children to be held the next day at the fairgrounds by the Elks Club. I suspect most of the crippled children were victims of polio. Paid subscribers can read on about how local communities helped crippled kids.

This set of vintage leg braces worn by a polio patient is being offered by a dealer on eBay. In order to appear able to walk, President Roosevelt wore a similar contraption when he staggered short distances.