No stamping today…. (but that’s ok because I’m ready for my class tomorrow/Tuesday – yippee).. I’ve been working on this on-going project for a long time now… bringing home boxes of vintage photos, letters, cards, books, magazines, scrapbooks, diaries, etc., that my mom had stored at her house – most of it handed down from her aunts in Wisconsin and some from my dad’s side in Salt Lake City. Here is the pile of stuff on tables in our garage ready for me to sort:
My mind is numb after going through all this today and sorting it into boxes. I read countless letters, cards, newspaper clippings, etc., and sorted hundreds of family photos. Now the pile has turned into this:
(OK, well, don’t count the bag of golf balls on the bottom shelf!) LOL
Some of the interesting things I came across were:
- several books and Bibles in German from the late 1800’s / early 1900’s
- report cards from the late 1800’s to mid 1900’s
- diaries from the early 1900’s
- hundreds of greeting cards sent for every possible occasion – most from the early 1900’s
- scrapbooks from the early 1900’s
- photos of my parents when they were dating (so cute!)
- tons of letters back and forth from my parents when my dad was stationed in Japan in the late 1950’s
- National G magazines from around 1920
- original birth, death and marriage certificates for MANY generations
Here are a few photos of the goodies:
Needle and Hook instruction book from 1910 and tons of vintage postcards!
Funny newspaper ads from 1952.
and probably at least 300 greeting cards like these – some of them much older than these:
Anyway.. you get the idea. My PLAN is … go through each container one by one and scan or photograph most of it so that I can make digital scrapbooks and background paper with it, and then keep a select (limited) number of original pieces for placing in scrapbooks. I plan to make one for my brother and one for me (well, it will end up being several volumes for each of us I’m sure). So.. no promises on how many decades this will take me, but at least it’s organized and basically in chronological order now. whew! Wish me luck!
Patty, I know exactly what you are going through sorting through memorbillia from your parents/family. Over the last month my mom and I (mostly my mom) has been doing the same for my Grandma. We had to put her in an assisted living home and have her home for sale. Some of the many things I have found that are very dear to me are her drawings of clothes. She was an amazing seamstress and could see a dress in the store, draw it on a piece of paper and then go home and make a pattern and the dress! She had such a talent. This weekend my mom cleaned out all her patterns – 1000 of them! With all her drawings I have been racking my mind as to how to preseve them and scrapbook them. You gave me a great idea – digital scrapbooking! This way I can have her drawings be my background paper. Thank you!
Oh that is wonderful all the vintage papers and such! (I havent fully read your whole blog so I dont know the story of why you are sorting it all!)
All my memorabilia from my childhood burned up in my moms home 8-9 yrs ago, Her whole house was gone! What I wouldnt give (almost) to have it back!!
Now I collect old greeting cards and postcards, preferably with writing on them, love to envision who they were, an dwho they were in love with!! LOL