Lois Unboxed

Midway through the twentieth century, young suburban wives were expected to stay at home tending children, sorting laundry and having dinner ready for their husbands when they returned home from work. None of this was to the liking of Lois Harris Kuhn. Philadelphia's Gratz High School had her locked and loaded for high-end secretarial jobs when she was released into the working world of 1931. The times and culture precluded her from ever pursuing positions more advanced-the same positions her bosses held that she could have mastered and more than likely surpassed. Typing memos and taking dictation would provide income and an escape from housewifery, but nothing beyond. She needed greater, personal fulfillment. For that, she chose writing. In 1956 she was awarded a contract from a major publisher to write a biography of the late, internationally acclaimed sculpture, Jo Davidson. What followed was an explosive writing spree over the next decade that produced a bountiful stream of essays, vignettes, poems and short stories. Sadly, most wound up in storage. Here now, some 50 years later, unboxed and meticulously curated by her granddaughter, Zoe Kuhn Williams, are many of these selected writings of Lois Harris Kuhn.