The Post War European Trip Collection-Back In the U.S.A.

I started this collection with two postcards from Missouri and I'm ending with  three people sitting in a car with Missouri license plates from 1948.  I can't know if those cards were purchased before this trip or if the photo was taken after but I did think they made nice bookends for Gloria Lee's European trip.   In my last post I noted that one of the photos might have a link for this finale of the collection.  A way off to the side, barely visible, stood a young lady who was probably Gloria Lee.  From that distant semi-profile, is it possible to figure out which of the two young ladies seen here is Gloria Lee Bigewet?  If nothing else there is a chance for some speculation.  My guess, the woman on the right in this picture.

And while we're dealing with guess work, how about the pronunciation of her last name.  I'm guessing it has a French origin and it might begin like bijou and end like Chevrolet.  Bishaway, phonetically?

Click on The Post War European Trip Collection in labels to finally see the whole thing. 

The Post War European Trip Collection-A Letter Home

As I noted in an earlier chapter of the Gloria Lee Bigewet story,  the only exception to the photos only rule of this blog is when I have ephemera that is directly related to a single source with photos.

So, in a letter written by Gloria Lee to her parents, dated "July 17, '48" she writes about her cycling trip around Europe, her dreams of being in fashion advertising and complained about the bad influence Europe was having on Bill who has taken to drinking and cussing in a very continental way.  Hey, don't be lazy, click on each page, bring up the letter in a bigger window and read it for yourself.  And speaking of clicking on things, The Post War European Collection in labels says it all.

The Post War European Trip Collection-London Calling 1

It's time to return to this collection.  It's been awhile so I'll give some basics and let anyone who want's to get more detail to click on The Post War European Trip Collection in labels to get more info.

Gloria Lee Bigewet was a teenager from the St. Louis area.  She was visiting Europe on an American Youth Hostel cycling trip.  There's a much bigger collection of her travel materials for sale at a used book store in St. Louis.  At least there was when I started posting this lot.  I couldn't afford it, so I'm limited to what I originally purchased.  I thought about posting the entire London guide at once, but for those who  want to bring things up in a bigger window and actually read the whole thing, it'll have to be done in four parts.  There is some damage, making things a bit tricky in the scanning, but hey, it is what it is.