A Store of Her Own

“Grandma’s store at the bottom of the hill was a place of enchantment. The clanking scales on the counter were best of all. A funny straight-up-and-down lady on the cracked white tray always held her hand in the air. There was a whole family of green-gold weights with little handles on top. Papa weight had 2 lbs on him, Mama weight had 1 lb. on her. Then there was their family of little weights down to the two little babies. The ugly black (iron) one was the trouble maker. Gordon and I would never use him in the weighing pan..."

                                                                                                                        -- Fanny's granddaughter, Joan 

Beyond her writing, Fanny proved herself a skilled entrepreneur, raising hens and running her own shop in Cypress Hills. Joan's short story captures the material culture of the store from an attentive child's angle. Her account is not just an inventory of objects; there is an intimacy and sense of wonder to her listing of the contents of the store.  Material culture and the life of things is an angle we're eager to explore further as we consider the way objects like those Joan describes do not just sit passively in the background of people's lives but have agency within them. That agency in turn can give us a fresh perspective on 'everydayness' and women's work and socialization.