52 Ancestors Week 40: Preservation

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 40

The monthly theme for October and Week 40 is "Preservation." Think for a moment about all of the records you've used in your family history research and what it took to preserve them. What are you thankful that was preserved (or what do you wish had been preserved)? What are you working to preserve?

Still a bargain at 25,000 dollars!

    I agree that it takes a lot to preserve things in your family history. You want to preserve that picture of your great-grandparents or your great-aunt or uncle in the same way they would have preserved that picture of you in the bath tub when you were little. Fess up. I know you all have at least ONE of those baby pictures. I...have a couple. Adorable baby pictures aside, what do you do when you've allocated a ton of these genealogical artifacts? What items from your family's past do you keep and what ones do you do away with? As a collector of comic books, it's a question I've often asked myself since space is at a premium and I do end up selling things on eBay or at the local comic shop. So, the question is. What is worth keeping and what is ultimately destined for the recycling bin or your local historical society?

So much stuff.

    My grandfather Robert Hamel has collected a lot of things over the years from golf balls to model airplanes. He even went so far as to save the electric bills from his father Alfred's Fix-It shop in Newburyport. There weren't just one or two bills in the boxes my aunt Linda gave me back in 2020, mind you. There were at least thirty bills in there all dated from the 1950s to the early 1960s! 

    There's a fine line between collecting and hoarding and sometimes that line gets blurred when you want to save various documents. What do you do with these electric bills for a shop that's been out of business for over sixty years? My family had no idea that my grandfather saved those bills! It was a complete shock and yet my mother understood why he kept them all these years. Maybe they reminded him of his father? I have no clue. Grandpa Bob passed away in 2017. If he was still around, I'd have definitely asked him WHY he kept the bills. From a genealogical perspective they may not offer much information other than what the cost of electricity was in 1960. Again I ask. What do I do with the bills?  Do I honestly need them taking up space?

    I have two heavy boxes full of stuff from his home. What I have done was divide the items into two groups. One was "KEEP!!!!" and the other one was "TOSS!!" Let's evaluate the kinds of things I kept. Keep in mind one of my other aunts has two suitcases full of MORE stuff that I have yet to go through! It's always an adventure for your friendly neighborhood genealogist.

    The things that I have obviously kept include items like this picture of Alfred Hamel and various other photos. My grandfather loved to take pictures and he had a ton of photo albums saved. Those were keepers. He also saved various photos from the Felker clan as well along with several sympathy cards from when grandma Natalie passed away in 2004. I kind of want to keep those as that was basically their FAN club or "Friends and neighbors". It's a good idea to keep them and the guestbook from the funeral home for that purpose even though I was obviously there.

    Small envelopes held photos of myself, my brother and our eight first cousins growing up. Some photographs, like the graduation photos, were obviously duplicates and were put in a safe place. Other photos were given to various family members in the off chance that they would like to see them. Wedding albums were also saved and so those photos were given to various family members, too. Side note: I was the most adorable ring bearer ever. Just sayin'. It's hard work balancing a ring on a pillow, you know! ;)

    In the mix was his service record, Alfred's service record and even directions to his brother Alfred's marker at Arlington National Cemetery. Those, I kept for obvious reasons. It's genealogical gold and you definitely need a map to find a specific gravestone at Arlington. Talk about a needle in a haystack!

Early 20th century Hugo Boss glasses? Maybe....

    Naturally, he also kept various items that belonged to my grandmother including some of her needlepoint, Felker family albums and assorted letters they wrote each other during the war. That was to be expected. They were married for over fifty years and her things sort of melded into his to the point that it was hard to tell which items belonged to whom.

  Obviously I've also kept things like their birth certificates, marriage certificates and things like that. You don't throw that genealogical gold away, my friends. Those are items worth saving and I can see why my grandparents kept them. 

    They had sentimental value and some items were passed down through time like these glasses! They could be Alfred's or his father's. I'm not sure. It was a surprise, though!. There were no lenses in there. But, it's still cool. We took those out and put them in a place of honor. This is just an example of a few items we kept. What DIDN'T we keep?

I think Nana would have appreciated
the "spring cleaning".

    The first thing to go was obviously the bills to the Fix-It Shop. Shocking, right? I don't know, guys. There could have been genealogical gold there. We could have found out how much money Alfred owed the city of Newburyport! That could have been a crucial fact that needed to be preserved for all time!!! If you can't read the sarcasm in this paragraph, then yes that was intense sarcasm. We tossed those.

    Another thing we probably should get rid of are his golf magazines. They were from as recently as 2016 and were still in good condition. I didn't think we really needed them. I don't golf. My dad used to golf. But, he doesn't seem too interested in the magazines. They just don't seem to have any value and needed to be tossed. Ironically, it made the box they were kept in MUCH lighter! You'd have thought the albums would have made it heavy. Nope! It was the golf stuff! They had to go!

    Miscellaneous items such as those are best sent to various collectors or someone who would appreciate them if you don't want them. Your mileage of course may vary! 

    In the end, you'll want to preserve the items that really should be preserved. Some items can stay and some items unfortunately have to be tossed. If family members want a specific picture, you could always scan and share on social media. Speaking of photos, if there are really old ones that your family wants and you want a copy, you could always scan and save to your computer. I put whatever I want to keep into a zip drive and store it there. It's a handy idea! Just make sure you keep them in a safe place!

  

I totally have this comic from
1974....

    I also have an interesting trick I want to share. If you have several relatives who want a picture of say your third great-grandfather or something and you have the only known copy, there IS a way to stop the drama before it strikes. You scan the image and once it's on the computer you can print it out on super glossy paper. It'll look just like a real photograph. I've done it for various comic covers I would have never have access to and put them as a backdrop to my reviews. The results speak for themselves. Just let them dry! You may also want to stock up on ink. I'm just saying. Printing out that comic cover you see over there took a lot of ink!!

    I don't think anyone actually believed I owned a mint copy of "Giant Size X-Men #1",  "Amazing Fantasy #16. Or even "Action Comics #1". Still, it was fun to print out comic covers to put on display like actual photographs. The same principle can be used if there's several family members who want a specific picture. Sharing them on social media is one thing. It's another to have a physical copy. I like having physical copies and it's a great way to share photos. I should honestly try it with some photos. What's the harm? It's a great way to preserve a photo for all time!

    Preserving the past is a great way to remind the family of those who came before us and where we all came from. There are stories with every photo and every document you find. However, you are likely to find junk from time to time. It's important to remember that sometimes your relatives save some things that probably should have been tossed out ages ago. So, if you have inherited a ton of stuff be sure to sift through what you want to keep and what you don't. There is a difference! Be mindful of that and happy hunting!

See ya next time! Oh and I actually do have several copies of "Giant Size X-Men #1" and "Amazing Fantasy #16" as reprints! =D