My Career

    Aunt Eleanor wanted me to have a career of my own, but my mother and stepfather did not.
    My aunt recognized that I loved art and would want to work in that field in some way, but she had no connections that might help me get started.  Her brother, my father Hall, however, knew many people in the business world in New York City and often took pleasure in helping young people find jobs.  It constituted an extension of the advice that he freely gave to his family or, for that matter, to anyone who would listen to him.
    My father saw  an opportunity to help me when Aunt Eleanor talked about wanting an elegant dress made for her to wear at the reception she and Uncle Franklin were giving in honor of the 1939 visit of England's King and Queen.  He suggested that I design the fabric for the dress, and she agreed.
    He gave me instructions to fabric design houses in New York, where, indeed, I was received with kindness; a kindness that no doubt had more to do with my name than to any talent I may have had.  I sketched a pattern that could be printed on fine voile, and then I visited several businesses that had expressed an interest in having me work for them.  They showed me their drawing rooms set up with boards for their designers and talked of hours and wages.  I was, in fact, offered a job and told to think it over while the company printed up the voile for the first lady's dress.
    My design consisted of intertwined roses (for England) and thistles (for Scotland), symbolizing the British King George and his Scottish Queen Elizabeth.  The dress turned out well; the blue design floated on the shimmering folds on the flowering white gown.
My return home to Dedham, Massachusetts, however, was a disappointment.  Elated about my success, I could hardly wait to tell my mother and stepfather.  Without hesitation, they frowned upon the notion; they would not, in fact, hear of it!  They steadfastly maintained that I had only been offered the job because I was the niece of Mrs. Roosevelt, and, furthermore, they would not allow me to go off to New York City, and that was that.  I argued in vain that at least I would find out if I had the talent to undertake a job in design; and further that I would welcome the opportunity to live independently,; and Aunt Eleanor and my father would keep an eye on me.  But my mother and my stepfather were conservative.  None of the daughters of their friends had moved to New York to take a job.  They dismissed the subject.
    Frustrated, I brooded on the apparent fact that marriage was the only acceptable way for a young woman to leave home.  Later, I realized there was another way--art school.  Despite the fact that I would be exposed to possible suitors of impossible background, art was considered an acceptable, and harmless, pursuit.  I planned my escape from home and chose Cranbrook Academy of Art.  The school employed many well known contemporary artists of the time as instructors, people like Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen, and I loved it.
    The best part was that they, unlike my parents, treated me like an adult.