From collection Kosti Ruohomaa Collection
LB2017.19.12944
George Papashvily roasts kabobs in his brick hearth in an old farmhouse in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Kosti Ruohomaa visited Helen and George Papashvily at their home in an old farmhouse, and at their bookshop, in the early winter of 1944. Photos from this series were published in multiple magazines, including Newsweek in December, 1944, and Time in January, 1945. Helen Waite Papashvily (1906-1996) was a writer and public library advocate. Helen Waite grew up in Stockton, California and attended University of California Berkeley studying English literature. Helen married sculptor George Papashvily (1898-1978) in 1933. George Papashvily had been born in Kobiantkari village in the Kartli region of Georgia, immigrating to the to the United States in 1922. After their marriage, the couple bought a farm in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Helen opened the Moby Dick Bookshop in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The shop sold used and antique books, with a focus on children's books and 19th c. women's literature. Helen was also an author of books and magazine pieces, and at the time of Kosti Ruohomaa’s visit, she was best known for her best-seller "Anything Can Happen" (1945) a humorous retelling of George's experiences immigrating from Soviet Georgia. Collection description of the George and Helen Papashvily Archives, SC MS 0090, Special Collections, Linderman Library, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA (2011 updated)
