I Love Lucy's Ancestors

AUGUST 6, 1911
The super-fantastic Google doodle celebrating Lucille Ball's 100th birthday was a great way to start my day. The doodle leads to a link in Wikipedia with some interesting tidbits about her family history and I lost about an hour of my day zipping around the interwebs, tracking down Lucy's New England ancestors. The most interesting article I found is from the Chautauqua County GenWeb site, Some Ancestral Remains of Lucille Ball by Lois Barris, and touches on 19th century "poor houses".

And that, not surprisingly, set me on a different course for the day.

The Poorhouse Story
Good resource for learning about the circumstances that brought our ancestors to these institutions, but unfortunately for hard core searchers the actual censuses have been removed.

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

JUNE 21, 2011
On this day we celebrate the first day of summer. I sincerely hope you can produce a more stylish bathing costume than the one modeled by my great aunt. Not sure of the year or location because, as is the custom in my family, all the really great photos are unidentified.

Depending on the year the swimsuit in the picture could very possibly be made of wool. Yes, wool. In the early 1920's Jantzen introduced knitted woolen swimsuits for men and women which were popular until the mid-30's when wool was gradually replaced by Lastex, a material used in the manufacture of girdles.

I'm taking an informal survey: what would you wear to drive the guys crazy back in the day?

a) soggy wool, drawers weighted down by sea-water
b) a suit constructed entirely of a yarn with an elastic core, wound with cotton, silk, or nylon.

The History of the Fashionable Bathing Suit
Victoriana Magazine

Cruel Summer  
by Bananarama