The Sally Draper Reading List

via Booklicious

Inspired by this 1955 found photograph of an 11 year old girl engrossed in her book despite sitting in the middle of living room amongst her non-reading family members, a blogger for the New York Public Library blog saw a resemblance to "Mad Men's" own Sally Draper and so imagined what the fictional girl may have been reading (aside from Nancy Drew) during 1964 and 1965, the years in which the fourth season of the show is set.

And so here's the NYPL list of books published in 1964 and 1965 that might have been right up Sally's alley:

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" - Roald Dahl
"Harriet the Spy" - Louise Fitzhugh
"Over Sea, Under Stone" - Susan Cooper
"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" - Ian Fleming
"The Phantom of Pine Hill" - Carolyn Keene
"The Long Secret" - Louise Fitzhugh
"The Black Cauldron" - Lloyd Alexander
"The Mouse and the Motorcycle" - Beverly Cleary
"The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" - Paul Zindel

I love this list and want to read or reread all of these works - don't you? And be sure check out the post's comments section too for great books that Sally would have totally been reading even though they weren't necessarily published in 1964-'65 like "Seventeenth Summer" (1942) by Maureen Daly and "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (1943) by Betty Smith.

It's snowing!

And now if I could only move into this cozy little illustration....

from "The Happy Rabbit" (1963)

illustrations by Patricia Barton

via Estelle and Ivy

Kennedys in summer

Mark Shaw photo via svenskamobler.com

Having lived in Massachusetts for a large part of my life, I know how much the Kennedys mean to so many (New England is as obsessed with them as it is with Whitey Bulger and stories of the Irish Mob in Boston). And, with the death of Ted Kennedy, the history of this family is again being passionately discussed (I saw a great documentary about them the other night on PBS).

They were a beautiful and engaging family. And, as the reaction to Ted Kennedy's death exemplifies, their political and altruistic interests greatly shaped modern American life (I liked this brief article on Slate.com about the littlest brother's political legacy). They were, however, also a very troubled family that used their influence and power to win elections and cover-up scandals (see, now, the dark side of Ted Kennedy's legacy).

The Kennedys seemed (and continue to seem) to exist on extreme sides of a spectrum. There is the beautiful myth captured in these photographs of a young family glowing with the haze and light of summer. There are the hard facts of profound and important political, social, and cultural accomplishments. And then there is the dark underbelly revealed in newspaper pictures of a car being dragged out of water and in stories of unfaithful husbands. The Kennedy family has such a contradictory and rich legacy, and we have such a complicated love for them.

(Most, if not all, of these pictures (I can't id the last one) of this young Kennedy family were taken by Mark Shaw in the late 1950s, early 60s.)

photograph via markshawphoto.com

photograph via markshawphoto.com

Mark Shaw photo via ultraswank.net

photograph via markshawphoto.com

photograph via markshawphoto.com

image via ffffound.com

"Mad Men" and us

We are all such fans of "Mad Men" that we jumped at the chance to create our own avatars via "MadMenYourself." So here are the ladies of "Hiving Out"... (and, yes, steaming hot coffee cups are true to each of our identities as is, apparently, the same, um, dominant nose).

Lorelei

Mae

Vivi