This site was created to house the stories of my great-great-aunt Selma Hamann. They were discovered in amongst a bunch of other material in my grandmother’s estate and sent to me by my mother to see if anything could be done with them. This site is meant to preserve not only the words of my ancestor, but also the places and eras she captures.

By all accounts Selma led a somewhat lonely and troubled life. She never married and passed away in 1965, just shy of her 70th birthday, in the same town where she was born. Her stories though span the globe as did her work as a teacher of romance languages. She graduated from Shepardson College, now a part of Denison University in Granville, Ohio and taught high school in central Ohio from 1920 to 1952. Her summer travels though took her to Mexico, the Philippines, and to Fiji to teach in places far from home at a time when such a globe trotting lifestyle was uncommon for a single woman. This passion for far flung ports and exotic settings, as well as an interest in the goings on of the world and it’s people is reflected in several of her stories, many of which are believed to have been written while she was overseas.

As I record these stories to this site, I will also do some minor editing for spelling, punctuation, or clarity, but in all cases will keep the editorial touch as light as possible to ensure the integrity of Selma’s voice. Though none of the material found so far is dated, some general timelines can be inferred from the context of the stories (such as in “Four Men” in which from the conversation it becomes clear that it was written at a time before WWII). This is not to say that the stories are necessarily “timeless.” The language, technology, attitudes, and terminology used all reflect a period that could be placed generally from the mid 1920s to mid 1950s.I will work to keep the language authentic to the time and place (or places) where it was first written.