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Norman Gold’s 1934 letter to the Carolina Cotillion Club membership informing them of the band arrangements and their assessment fee of $2.50 for the dance. This letter suggests that 1934 was the last of the September dances.
Below is a wonderful article written in the fashion of home town newspapers of the day. If you remember when wedding announcements described the clothes people wore to weddings, the color of the bridesmaid dresses with details of the brides dress….seed pearls cascaded across the bodice….all the names of the out of town guests, family names and how they were connected to the bride and groom, even the names of the flowers in the bouquets, you will swoon with nostalgia over this newspaper clipping. (Speaking for myself, of course, having wiped a tear over these memories) Marian Herring’s scrapbook is filled with newspaper clippings, sadly turning yellow, now loose behind plastic page protectors. But, oh, the stories contained within this album.
Who can resist the caption below this picture published in 1955
Back in 1929 Thomas J. Pearsall (shown in inset) was president of the Carolina Cotillion Club and led the active member’ figure with Miss Elizabeth Braswell of Battleboro, who is shown here on the porch of her home. They were married in 1930 and are the parents of two sons, Tommy and Mack, who are of “June German age.” Friends of the Pearsall’s will be delighted to see how little they have changed since 1929 -although there have been changes in their clothes.
In further details of the 1929 dance, I can’t leave out…..“The club figure is to be unusually intricate and elaborate and for this the young ladies attending will be presented novelty corsages, the corsage proper being attached to bags of ostrich feathers which will be suspended from the arm boy silent cords. These floral and feather baskets will be in variegated shade and the effect will be very lovely.” I mean, how wonderful is this!
When the June German dances are reinstated in our future, let’s have a display of the clothes once worn on these occasions. By some miracle, do you suppose one of the bags of ostrich feathers is still out there? I will be returning this wonderful scrapbook to Nancy Richardson, Rocky Mount, whose mother, Marion Herring, compiled it. Nancy’s father’s name is on the blank invitation shown in Part 2 of this series. The June German meant the world to Marion Herring. We think of her fondly for her devotion to this historical social event that meant so much to the lives of many. She deserves our thanksgiving for the preservation of these precious bits and pieces of memorabilia. Next year I will write more June German memories. Please add in the comment section below your favorite memory.
Main Street Rocky Mount 
My comment does not have to do with the June German but with Elizabeth Braswell Pearsall in the posted picture. Mrs. Pearsall published an autobiographical book, which is a wonderful cultural account of her life and of events relating to the time. I think she was in her nineties when the book was put together from her massive journals with the help of Rosa Moore Leonard. Her life story account in the readable book reveals that Elizabeth Pearsall was more than fluff and belle. But I dare say she enjoyed the balls and parties as well.
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