Young Woman's Diary for 1944 While Living in Portland, OR

Item Details

Portland, Oregon, 1944, Cloth covered boards

VG+

[DIARY]  [WOMEN]  [OREGON - PORTLAND]  [DAILY LIFE]  [DANCING]  [THEATRE]  [FASHION]   Barbara Jean Phillips. Young woman’s diary for 1944 containing entries written by Barbara Jean Phillips (1919-2005), a resident of Portland, Oregon.  Barbara frequently writes about her daily activities, including great details about who she interacted with and what was going on in the world around her.  She often describes what is going on at her job, the shows and theatres she and her family attend, going to church, formals and dances, shopping with girlfriends, skating, dinners and lunches, special events, the redoing of the interior of the family home, clothing outfits that she and others wear, news from WWII soldier acquaintances, and a great entry on D-Day!.

Red cloth covered boards with the cover title Daily Reminder 1944.  The diary measures approximately 6 x 4.25 inches.  From January to the early part of July, the majority of days in the dairy are filled out from top to bottom of each page. Several days do not have an entry and some pages only have a sentence or two on them due to a lack of events on those days.  From mid-July to the end of the year, rather than writing in the diary, Barbara included paper inserts of her daily events which are tucked between pages.  Written entries are in ink while the loosely inserted shorthand sheets are in pencil.  VG+ condition; clean and bright throughout; easy to read.  [17-398]

Barbara Jean Phillips was born in 1919 to Homer Charles Phillips (1892-1974) and Frankie “Francis” Olin (1891-1980) in Spokane, Washington.  She had one sister, Peggy Claire Phillips (1921-2015).  Both her parents, especially her father, and sister “Peg” are frequently mentioned throughout.  By 1935, the family had moved from Spokane to a house at 1913 NE Ridgewood Drive in Portland, Oregon.  Barbara lived at that address until 1960, when she married John Howard Hall (1910-1988), an agent for the Greyhound Lines.  He had been divorced twice before and had several children with his first wife.  It is unknown to this cataloger if he and Barbara ever had any children.  For most of her life, Barbara was listed as a dental assistant.  She resided in Portland for the remainder of her life, passing away in 2005.

A sampling of quotes written by Barbara Phillips provides examples of what daily life was like in Portland, Oregon during the mid-1940s:

Barbara frequently attended shows and concerts with friends and family at one of the many theaters around Portland.  On February 7^th, she describes heading downtown to attend one of the venues.  “With our bonds we had bought tickets to the show “Madam Currie” and Norma was going with us so Auntie used Daddy’s ticket (he didn’t seem to want to go anyways) and we all went down to the Broadway Theater.  Well, when we got there, over an hour early, the sidewalks were solid with people all the way around and we just barely got into the theater.  Peg and Norma got separated from us and they got seats, but Mother, Auntie and I were out of luck – there weren’t any more.  So we went across the street to the Paramount Theater and saw “Lifeboat”.  We had fun anyway but we probably won’t buck a crowd for a while again.  It was terrific.”

Because Barbara and her family/friends attended so many dances and formals, she often described what she and others wore.  In her February 9^th entry, she writes about parents dressing up for a Masonic dance.  “‘Happy Birthday Daddy!’  Upon Daddy’s invitation I joined him for lunch at the Multnomah Hotel and he and I had crab louis salad.  It was very good.  At dinner we presented Daddy with a white shirt, a tie and a little gas ration container.  Then Mother and Daddy dressed for a Masonic formal.  Mother wore a long black velvet skirt and black and white satin blouse, with Peg’s fur coat and an orchid which Daddy had gotten for her.  And Daddy wore his tuxedo for the first time with all the trimmings and dark coat.  When they arrived at the dance Daddy had a gardenia pinned on his lapel.  If you don’t think they looked swell, you should have been here to see them leave for the Masonic Temple!”

On several occasions, something quite unusual would happen in Barbara’s life.  On March 2^nd, she describes an accident in which she was involved.  “Well today brought the second episode in my final or rather, closing chapter with Ellsworth.  It added a distracting shock in the form of a snappy bus accident and I was on the receiving end of both.  First – The bus accident.  My bus plowed into an automobile and trailer filled with timber and smashed in the front end of the bus, driving the timber through the windshield of our bus.  I had just found a seat in the rear of the bus and held on for dear life when we hit.  My purse flew off my lap and landed up in front of the car.  The lady sitting behind me was thrown from her seat and quite badly hurt.  Many up in front had bloody faces and injuries of one kind or another.  I got mostly a shock and bruises, for which I was very thankful.  I was pretty shaky when I arrived home and Mother handed me a letter from Ellsworth which had been written on Tuesday.”  The letter from Ellsworth informed Barbara that he had met another woman, leaving Barbara after they had previously discussed their future together.  On March 6 a friend tells her that Ellsworth was supposed to be married that day [actually, he was married on April 2^nd], leaving her and her friends perplexed.  But she moves on.

With World War II going on, Barbara mentions corresponding with soldiers overseas on several occasions, particularly with those she grew up with in the Portland area.  Sadly, on June 19^th, she got one of her letters returned.  She writes: “Everything went very well today until I got home and everyone waited quietly while I discovered my own letter to “Lt.” Karlie returned with “Missing” written in a scrawl on the front of it.  It was a very sickening and saddening experience and I wasn’t able to hold back my tears after they finally started to come.  The shock at first keeps you from fully realizing what it means.  I hope and pray that Karlie is safe.  He had such a little way to go to complete his missions and come home.  Everyone loved Karlie so that the rest of the family was terribly in the dumps”

Barbara and her sister loved to dance. So, when Boyd, a man she sees frequently, invited her to a formal, she was excited to accept.  On April 29^th she describes getting her outfit together followed by some of the nights events.  She states “2 cars of us went together to the Oswego Club and first of all we had dinner by candlelight.  Frank Donahue and his girl were with us.  The rest of the old gang ate on the second shift.  Then we proceeded to the dance floor where they had an orchestra.  Then everyone wanted to trade dances with us.  Frank Kern who was delighted to see me, Al who took the opportunity to dance like hasn’t since last Christmas when he took me out, & others whom I didn’t know.  We tripped up on Warren’s dance and Johnnie told Boyd ‘Oh Boyd, I would love to dance with Barbara but I’m drunk and she doesn’t like drunk boys’.  I was very much satisfied with my dancing evening and Boyd is perfect company and fun to dance with.”

On a more serious note, on June 5th Barbara records, “Our little household was sleeping soundly when suddenly Peg and I woke up sitting straight up.  Grandma said ‘What’s that – what’s that!’ and we heard Mother & Daddy hit the floor.  The air-raid sirens were ringing and we knew that this was “D-Day” or the invasion of Europe from England.  It was exactly 12:33.  We leaped out of bed and without even thinking I fell to my knees and said a prayer (as everyone had been requested to do) and we rushed to the front room to turn on the radio.  The air lanes were wild with confusion – expected voices came on & were cut off but the descriptions were very interesting.  We heard Ministers of the occupied countries give instructions to the underground & finally Eisenhauer’s voice came over, cool and quieting.  We listened to the radio for an hour.”

Interesting reading diary kept by a single, fun-loving young woman in Oregon during WWII.