The “College Heights Low Down” is a hilarious newspaper published by Lyman Colt Josephs, Jr. (1886-1963) for the benefit of his children: Lyman Colt Josephs III, Mary Pearson Josephs, and John Pearson Josephs. He wrote it weekly from 1937-1940. Mary was at Hannah More Academy in Reisterstown, Maryland, and then Sarah Lawrence College, and then Boston Museum School of Fine Arts and Radcliffe College. Lyman was at Harvard College. John was at Fountain Valley School, Colorado Springs, and then at Yale.
The later “Bel Air Bugle” is a similar bulletin by LCJ to his children, now with families, in 1951.
My copies of the two publications are photocopies of faded typewritten pages. Many letters and words are illegible or missing. The bulletins are so hard to read – and so extremely worth reading – that I’m taking the time to retype them one by one and post them here so that they can be read as they were intended.
A word of caution. The year 1937 was a different time and people used a different kind of language: often more correct than ours, but also employing casual slurs that will take your breath away. Also, our grandfather loathed FDR and went out of his way to employ shock value in referring to him and his programs. The first entry in the first issue of the “Low Down” is a doozy. If you can get past it – and if you do I’d like to discuss it with you at some point – you’ll be rewarded with the fascinating, wide-ranging, and funny musings of a remarkable mind.
Issues transcribed so far:
October – December, 1937
January – February, 1938