
The Motherhood Book was published by Amalgamated Press in 1930. I have managed to collect four copies in various states of disrepair and have been working with them for six months or so.There is so many things I plan to do with them but I need to focus on just one for now.
The book might have been used as a replacement for motherly advice at a time when it was becoming less common for extended families to live together.
I began to search for and remove all references to the mother. I was thinking about the way a baby experiences the little absences of its mother's comings and goings without knowing when/if she will return.
I also thought about a more permanent loss and the needs that go unmet.

Even finding the mothers was not as easy as it would seem as after a while I would find myself reading and getting involved in the content rather than looking at words. Even after several passes through the book I looked again and still there were more..
The content of the book is fascinating and I think a lot could be learned from it even today..but some of it is just plain funny...like what to do for babies whose ears stick out or how to get a son to take cold baths!
If it is possible to love a book (and it is) then I love this one.

I decided they had to go too.
They appear on both sides of the page and to cut the whole figure would leave a shapeless hole
so I removed the body and not the clothing.