Back in the early days of the blog, I wrote a story 10 Reasons I’m Glad I Don’t Live in the ’50s to clarify that with this blog, I’m singing the praises of the decorating, not necessarily the lifestyle or all the ins and outs of life then. A few of my reasons for life today vs. yesteryear were tongue-in-cheek. But on the main, I was dead serious about how, all things considered, I believe we are way better off today for very specific reasons — in particular due to civil rights and medical advances. A related case in point, spotted on ebay this week: Shoes fixed with leg braces, for a child, found at an estate sale in Texas. For polio? We’re guessing. See this photo reference from Harvard (link now gone).
Go to the listing (now ended): Those shoes were worn hard, worn right out. My mom tells me that, growing up the 1930s in rural Pennsylvania, there would regularly be quarantines for all the children when another child was diagnosed with polio. Can you imagine. Related to the usual topics of this blog: Some academics point to the historic preference for white tiled kitchens as a defense against disease. This all started with Florence Nightingale and her work to advance hospital sanitation around 1850. From that point on, homemakers and their servants started to aim for absolute cleanliness to ward off germs. White cabinets, floors and walls made it easier to see the dirt. “Sanitary kitchens” — that’s what they called them. Similarly, steel cabinetry — starting with steel Hoosier cabinets — were marketed as “vermin free” — rats and mice could not chew through and eat, or contaminate, your precious foodstuffs. Americans took the whole cleanliness thing even further, by linking personal and home hygiene to advancing socially and economically. I read all about this a couple years ago in the fascinating book Chasing Dirt: The American Pursuit of Cleanliness (affiliate link). So… there was a well-evolved back-story to all that renowned midcentury focus on household cleanliness — including how we ended up with so many white kitchens. Thanks to seller Ray for giving me permission to feature these photos.
Pamela says
This brought back memories. I wore those, but not for Polio, when I was 5 years old. Mine were ‘more complicated’ and went from toe to waist. Still have them. I thank my parents every day for them, or I’d have some very crooked legs.
Carol says
I was born in 1952, and when I’d complain about polio shots, my mother would say how blessed we were to get them. When summer came when we were babies, everyone would live in dread of a polio outbreak. I remember seeing pictures of people in iron lungs and would have nightmares. I had a few friends who grew up in third-world countries, where polio vaccines were not available, and they were left with limps and atrophied muscles. Now, like Annie B. says, we have to protect our children against the “germs” that come through the media.
Kate says
One of my parent’s good friends had polio and he is okay now except he has a serious limp because one of his legs is shorter than the other.
I was not alive in the 50s, but from what I can tell they had cooler houses and furniture back then, and things were more “well built” but I agree with you Pam, as a woman, I like living now. Women’s rights have come so far since then and the medical advances alone are amazing.
I don’t know if it was really how they portray it in the movies, but I think I would have liked how people seemed to be more polite and it was “safer” to let your kids play outside unsupervised. Was there any truth to that?
pam kueber says
Maybe people were more polite. But I don’t think it was safer. I think that very terrible things happened — but that they were hushed up. People are people.
Annie B. says
They didn’t have CNN, Internet, etc. to broadcast those terrible things, either.
Meghan says
It was pretty safe, and it is still pretty safe – people today have a wholly out of proportion idea of the risks to kids – probably to a large degree because of television and now internet.
Kelli says
I was born well after the polio scare was over so I’m fortunate to have not grown up with these fears. What an interesting article though. And a sad but interesting auction.
I have to agree with Meghan, I think that we currently live in a time of overblown fear & hysteria surrounding all the “what ifs.”
Julie says
It drives me nuts when people think it is so horrible now. As though people only started doing horrible things in the year 2000 or something. The difference today is that we see it in our tv shows and our news all the time. We read about it on Facebook and Twitter. It is everywhere.
Laura says
My mother and her three sisters grew up in the 1950s, and they’ve all told me how terrified their mother was of polio. My grandmother was a religious scrubber of kitchen floors and countertops (daily) with ammonia and fels naptha. Keeping that level of clean in a farmhouse must have been utterly exhausting, and I think of her a lot when I consider my children’s immunization records AND all my modern appliances.
Dulcie says
What sad little shoes, I’m so thankful that neither I or my children had the specter of polio hanging over our heads growing up. We’ve been blessed.
On the subject of white kitchens. In the kitchen of the house we built, I had all white cabinets installed. People commented on how awful that must be, because white showed all the dirt. I couldn’t understand the drawback, it wasn’t like it was a difficult to clean item like living room carpet, they were wood cabinets, you just wiped them down when you saw the dirt, which made for a much cleaner kitchen. If you don’t see the dirt, it tends to accumulate. I would choose light colored over dark in my kitchen any day, not only is it brighter and more cheerful, it stays a whole heck of a lot cleaner.
pam kueber says
Yes, I think it is very interesting that there is a definite divide between people who (1) want finishes that show the dirt so they can pounce and clean and (2) people who want finished that hide the dirt so they don’t have to pounce and clean…. Although, as described in this story, the latter relaxed-approach is a *serious gift* today, made possible by modern medicine.
sablemable says
I was born in 1954, my brother 1952. I still have my immunization records from my childhood, the IVP (injectable vax) entries listed. Scary time for all. I’ve done a lot of reading about polio and its victims; doctors didn’t know what to do, they couldn’t halt the progression via medications. I’ve known polios, as they call themselves, still struggling with the disease known as post-polio syndrome. The Rotary Club still does vaccinations in Third World countries and I salute them! Thanks also goes to all that have done reasearch over the years that helped Drs. Salk and Sabin bring forth the polio vax, Philip Drinker for inventing the iron lung and Sister Kenny for her physical therapy techniques (hot packs, muscle stretching).
Tallulah says
My boyfriend’s mother, now in her eighties, is illiterate because of polio in large part. Because of her physical disabilities from polio, she was never sent to school. This was in a rural area. Why she didn’t try to learn to read and write later when her children offered to teach her is beyond me.
ChrisH says
I was born in ’56, and thus into a world w/o polio. Thank you Dr. Salk. I can think of a lot more than 10 reasons that I don’t want to live in the past.
Elaine says
I grew up in the fifties, and every summer, polio would sweep into our neighborhoods. One of my cousins got it, and his family was told he would never walk, but he did, wearing braces like that only with metal on two sides all the way to the hip.
My brother got it one summer, The county hospital is where everyone went that had a contagious disease like TB, scarlet fever, whooping cough, diphtheria and polio. All those things we could get back then. My mother was convinced my sister had it too, but she never got really sick so never was taken to the doctor. Of course, being the oldest, I was the one who could play with the neighbors, and was deemed to be the one who “Brought it into our house.”
My brother did not have any paresis, thank God, but his personality sure changed. Just last winter, I was talking to my dad, and he brought up that time and started crying about having to leave my brother in the hospital, and going back the next day to be sent to the iron lung ward by mistake. That kind of thing could leave invisible scars all over.
Elaine says
About the wear on those shoes, yes, they were unbelievably expensive and of course, no health insurance. Shoes were worn til they didn’t fit any more. Cardboad would be put into the soles for strength and to keep out stones as the soles wore through in spotsl
Cari says
No health insurance? There was health insurance in the ’50’s. It was often referred to as “hospitlization” becaue that’s what it generally covered.
Elaine says
Yes, but most jobs, at least the ones my father held, didn’t have it, and my family and many in our neighborhood, didn’t buy insurance. Too bad, I can remember going without when there were medical bills, my brother’s special shoes, stitches, broken arms. The bills weren’t as high as now, but in then dollars, it was a lot. My bill for the overnight hospital when i got hit by a car was somewhere under $100, and the doctor stitched my head, set my arm and scrubbed my legs with a scrub brush himself to prevent road rash.
Puddletown Cheryl says
I remember going to the high school along with everyone else to get the first polio vaccine. Each mothers face and body was tight with worry and fear until their child received their dose. Then one by one the mothers would relax and smile. Definitely better now.
Annie B. says
I remember the “sugar cube” of the early ’60’s.
Cari says
I remember my sugar cube was purple.