COLLECTION #45: Children's Handkerchiefs

 
 I remember a time when we girls would tuck a little hankie into our pockets, or purses... and I've never stopped being slightly in love with sweet little girly hankies that I find from time to time at flea markets and secondhand stores.  I am always on the lookout for children's handkerchiefs, and they are hard to find!

 It seems that kitties are a popular theme. I didn't think much about that until I lined them all up to photograph. The Siamese cat on the top row reminds me of all the Siamese cats we owned, and I loved, as a child.

The Dionne 'Quins' hankie must be from Canada, because of the spelling of the word 'Quints'. For those of you who don't know, these were a set of quintuplet girls born in Ontario, Canada in the early 1930s. They were the first quints to survive babyhood, and they were an international sensation. They grew up in a fishbowl,  being taken away from their parents by the government, to live in a special nursery under the supervision of their doctor. They became an enormous tourist industry, and were the subject of toys, dolls, books, magazines, and even hankies. Two of the quints are still alive today.

 So, there you have it, a little cuteness, a little history.