In the first blog post about this subject, I mentioned preserving memorabilia (4 March 2024 – Organizing Your Information). I have written before about photos and photo albums (What will we do with future photos, Prized Old Photos, Digitizing Memories, My amazing picture-taking machines), home movies (Preserving Home Movies), family memorabilia (Memorabilia, Old Heirloom Watches), school records (My Mother’s Scrapbook), furniture and antiques (The Old Rocking Chair’s Got Me).
I am a collector of old family stuff: photos (of course), antiques
and furniture, drawings, woodworking projects, souvenirs, brochures, bibles,
area history publications, family correspondence, cards (birthday, anniversary,
Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day), tape and video recordings, phonograph records, tools,
farm implements, toys, musical instruments, cameras, various types of collections,
artwork (both professional and pieces done by children and grandchildren) and
assorted mementoes of family activities, events, workplaces and life milestones.
I still have all the report cards and many of the projects our
children brought home from school. These have been digitized so their families
can see them easily (and in case they get lost, damaged or thrown out).
And, as I have written about before, all the old original
family documents are secured in binders or in my safe.
My family laughs at me for keeping it all but, to my mind these
things represent family history. They were important to people who owned and
used them.
As much as I have, I am still surprised and annoyed with myself
for having given away or discarded many items.
We have given (or will give) a few things to children and
grandchildren. By doing so we at least keep them in the family and imbue the
recipients with some sense of their ancestral history.
Now that we are in our probable last home, I have made a
point of bringing many things out of their storage boxes to display them. A lot
of comments are made by preservationists about keeping material in archive-like
containers to prevent their deterioration. That is a good idea for many things
but putting them out on shelves or hanging them on walls so that people, especially
family members, can see them is also important. Stories and memories can be
easily forgotten if the tangible pieces that go with them kept are
out-of-sight.
One of my projects is to photograph and document all the old
stuff that is still kicking around here. That will includes making displays of small
but bulky pieces is shadow boxes.
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| 1-Grandma Miller's irons, 2-Dad's home made chess set, 3-Dad's carving 1934 contest entry made with coping saw, 4-great-grandfather James Shepheard's pocket watch, 5-custom made stained glass window, 6-old family rocking chair, 7-Wayne's 70-year old toy cap guns, 8-Grandpa Miller's farm fork, 9-Wayne's safety matchbook collection |
I am having this problem too as my family is clear across the USA and very few members left. I have quite a few items and some valuable as well as my Ancestry research for the Robinson family from Isle of Man and Liverpool, England.
ReplyDeleteMany of us have similar problems. Our plan is to document every heirloom via photos and a write up, so that all family members know why we saved it. When the time comes our plan is to offer it all to family members, we can't take it with us, so it is best to pass it along before we die. But it is up to us to tell the story that the item hides in it. Our children and grandchildren won't know these stories unless we tell them. The hope is that once they know the story, they too will cherish the item as we did.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I once owned a packaging & shipping store, many times we were hired to help when someone had passed, I can't count the boxes of "stuff" that when we asked those left behind, "what do you want us to do with this?" the answer inevitably was "throw it in the dumpster!"