The Homefront,
Mary Reynolds Babcock’s Letters:
1942-1945
Design and project management for a book about life in America during World War II told through the letters of Mary Reynolds Babcock, daughter of R.J. Reynolds.
From the Book
Eight days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mary Reynolds Babcock gathered her four children and nurses into two limousines and headed to her hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Her husband, Charlie, was enlisting in the armed forces and she would be at home and on her own.
Mary entered her four children into private school, learned how to cope with rationing, trained as a nurses’ aide, and visited Charlie whenever possible before he deployed for duty in Europe. She also served on boards, hosted events and welcomed a variety of guests to the “Big House” during his time away.
After the discovery of a trove of letters written by Mary during World War II, her daughter, Barbara Babcock Millhouse, was motivated to develop this book. It captures Mary’s insightful and amusing descriptions of family life under wartime conditions.
Our Approach
This was our second book project with Barbara Babcock Millhouse. The impetus for the project was a result of her discovery of a trove of letters written by her mother, Mary Reynolds Babcock.
We were very fortunate to work on a project with no shortage of content. Between the author’s archives and that of Reynolda House, we had an embarrassment of riches when it came to content for the book. Conversations often centered around what had to be edited down rather than where to find a photograph, illustration or object.
The Result
The finished book is over 400 pages in length and includes not only the history of the Babcock family, but also a snapshot of what life was like in mid-20th century North Carolina and the New York City-area enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut. It is fully indexed for reference and includes short biographies of the Reynolds and Babcock families as well as many other relatives and friends who were part of their social milieu during and after the war.
The book has garnered many favorable reviews from readers interested in Reynolds family history and the era of wartime America in the 1940s.
Discipline
Book Design
Client
Barbara Babcock Millhouse / Reynolda House Museum of American Art
Responsibilities
Cover and interior design and illustration work, photography direction, print production management
Project Team
Elliot Strunk, Denise Rachels Short, Mary Giunca (Studio H)
Red Cardinal Studio, select photographs
Barbara Babcock Millhouse, author
Sherold Hollingsworth, project manager
Bari Helms, Reynolda House archivist