A reader has sent some information about Helen Futter, the subject (I think) of some thoughts I’ve had about record collections, midcentury media, and pop culture. (See here, here, here, here, and here.) Generally, reflecting on what (I think) was Helen’s record collection, donated by her estate to Gabriel’s Books in Lakeside, I treated her like a “typical teen,” listening to records on her “Victrola.”
The reader, a staff member at the Duluth Public Library and one of our community’s great resources in local history, found these records.
First, a basic record of birth and marriage.
Next, an entry in a local high school yearbook.
I don’t know that this information changes my thoughts, but it makes me careful to remember that there is a person, not a stereotype, at the bottom of these reflections.
