Letters of Confirmation

Cleaning out files, I found letters of confirmation for my first two jobs. The first is for the Daniel Boone Regional Library in Columbia, Missouri, where I started in the fall of 1978. The letter does not state my salary, but I remember starting at $9600 per year. Within months I was up to $10,000 annually. The funny thing is that I never felt poor. There was inexpensive housing available and it was fairly easy to live cheaply. Of course, I rarely bought anything I did not need.

My second job was at the Dolton Public Library District in Cook County, Illinois. I started in the spring of 1981. President Reagan was shot on my first day. I could have qualified for housing projects on my salary. As it was, I spent about 40 percent of my salary on an apartment.

Things are a lot better now.