“What was your favorite thing about Colonial Williamsburg?” I asked my children.
“When you let us leave the book binder’s shop.”
The blame falls on me. I could tell they were getting restless, but the book binder was fascinating. Not only did he demonstrate the process, but he also explained the value of his handiwork. See these two shelves of books in the photo? According to Ye Olde Book Binder, a poor 18th Century farmer would have to give up 20 years of profit for this book collection. A day’s wage would buy him a lead pencil and one sheet of linen paper.
Give me a moment to gaze longingly at the stack of to-be-reads on my nightstand. At the 18th Century rate I’ve probably got five years worth of salary stacked there. And paper? Assuming I knew how to read, what would I write on a sheet that cost my husband a full day’s worth of toil? What would I have to say that would warrant such a sacrifice?
How many thoughts went unexpressed because of the scarcity of paper? How many newsy letters home weren’t posted, how many sentiments weren’t recorded for posterity? Wouldn’t you love to have Marty McFly’s flux capacitor and take a case of journals to the farm wives, the slave women, and the first year apprentices whose tales remain untold?
If we could, whose story would you want to hear? What profession, what era are you most curious about?
I would just love to hear the stories of ordinary people–the ups and downs of their lives, their thoughts on matters big and small, how they handled it all. I would have been fascinated at the bookbinders also, Regina. And my children would have been getting restless as well!!
Hmmm…I don’t even know what I’d most want to hear. My maternal grandmother took some time later in life, at my cousin’s request, to write down some stories of when she was young, and that is one of my most treasured “books” ever. Of course, paper was not exactly scarce then, but my grandma had raised children in the depression and of course she was still careful about everything like that.
That would have been a truly fascinating place to visit!
The re-enactors at Williamsburg were unbelievably knowledgeable. I was impressed. In a way it was like getting to talk to people whose stories have been lost.
Kerri, having your grandma’s stories is priceless. I agree with Anne, just knowing the little details of their lives is so interesting and even more so when it’s family.