Letters from Marilyn - Update 8

Greetings from Billings, Montana! Since I'm technically on vacation, this post will be a short one. While I do have many more photos of M to share with you now (thanks, Grandma E!), I stupidly forgot to scan a few before road-tripping through the States. Enjoy this photo of Washington Ave. in Downtown Minneapolis (circa 1952) instead. Since Marilyn often writes about downtown shopping with her college friends, I thought I'd include a picture reference.

Today's post spans February and March of 1952. I had originally intended to finish her sophomore year letters for this post, but April/May will have to wait until next weekend. I have a busy week next week, so I doubt I'll have enough time to read more than a couple months worth of letters anyway.

Letters from Marilyn - Update 7

Happy Sunday and cheers to a new week ahead, my friends! I cannot guarantee a post next weekend as I will be road-tripping, but until our next update I hope this is a substantial enough entry. The photo in this post is of Marilyn (right) and a friend of hers at Augsburg.

Today's focus is on November/December 1951 and January of 1952. The majority of Marilyn's letters during this time frame focus on news from home and the people living in Ray (or from Ray). While I know of some of these people, I don't know all and as such, will not be including any of that material at this point in time.

In November/December, M writes frequently about her upcoming holiday plans to come home and all the holiday activities happening at Augsburg. She talks about the pretty snowfalls in Minneapolis and the festivities. Move over, Halloween and Thanksgiving. I'm already ready for Christmas, just from reading these months of letters!

Letters from Marilyn - Update 6

Happy October, reader friends! Autumn is most certainly my favorite season of the year and reading the start of Marilyn's sophomore year letters has reminded me of this. The outdoor football games, the colors of the trees, the warm coats, the coffee (obviously!), and so much more. Marilyn often writes about the nice Indian summer they are having in Minneapolis during Sept-Oct. 1951.

I wanted to share some dormitory pictures, but innocently believed I would be able to find some circa 1951 online. Wrong. After some digging, I have come to the assumption that this building no longer exists (more research to come soon). I did however find this photo circa 1888 in the Augsburg online collection. Interestingly, while researching Morton Hall, I also found out that a current dormitory at Augsburg is none other than Mortensen Hall, which was named after Gerda Mortensen (who M has mentioned in her letters).

Since I don't have other college specific photos, I have included another photo of Marilyn today. My grandmother recently sent me this photo of Marilyn (center) with her friends Joan (left) and Marie (right). This was taken her freshman year during initiation week for freshmen when they had to wear their Augsburg beanies for a week!

Letters from Marilyn - Update 5

Good morning loves! It's hard to believe we are already through M's first year of college at Augsburg and that my next update will be the start of her sophomore year. Today's post focuses on March to May of 1951. I'll be honest - these pages are less newsy than her previous months, so I didn't mark a lot to share with you today. I also didn't include a picture of her letters today. Instead, this photo is Augsburg College's Old Main, circa 1950 (God bless the internet, as M didn't have pictures).

Since my last posted update, I have also made significant progress copying and preserving her junior year letters in electronic format. While those entries here on Certainly Candid won't be for another month or two, I am very excited to share some snapshots of that year with you. She has some fun letters from her time on choir tour (they made it out to New York and she has some very cool postcards!). I will definitely have lots of pictures to share with you as we get to 1952-1953. Marilyn even included some programs from tour - I have one from Town Hall, NYC, and will get an electronic scan to show here.