If you are from my mother’s generation or my grandma’s you seem to have kept everything that had been passed down through the years. As time passes, you would add to these collections or add to your husband’s family collections and so on and so on and so on. Pretty soon you need a huge house with lots of china cabinets and shelves to display or store these keepsakes.
My generation (tail end of the baby boomers) seems to have lost some interest in the treasures from past generations that they did not know personally. Every generation after that seems to be less and less interested. I find that is sad. Maybe it is because I am into searching for my family history. It could be due to my interest in old vintage items and the who, what, where, when and how they came to be.
Oh the stuff I have and love!!!! From Grandma’s Franciscan China with the apples to the blue Carnival Glass candy dish that sat next to the front door of Grandma and Grandpa’s house. My Mom is still enjoying many of her treasures, but she has been giving my brother and I some of her and dad’s collections they too have acquired over the years.
When the previous generation decides it is time to purge some of the treasures of the past they first look to their kids to see what they would like to keep. That is all well and good, but what if the kids do not have the same tastes as they do or the kids are into a more contemporary design? It is hard. Most of the time there is one adult child that wants to keep everything that the others have chosen not to take. That adult child is like me. Every memory, every tale they have been told about an item…All of it has a purpose to them.
Unfortunately, we (the keepers of the treasures), only have so much room and our spouses may not share our thrill of it all.
Recently I volunteered to help my friend, Mary, whose parents were moving and downsizing from their home of 50 plus years. She, her parents, the family and close friends had already gone through and picked their favorite and precious treasures.
My mother, Marlene (another family friend) and I started sorting through the treasures that were left. Do we have an estate sale? No, the estate sale company says there was not enough to make it worth their time. Do we pack it all for the thrift store? Yes, we did some. But now what do we do with the rest of these fabulous memory holders that some would call “stuff”?
We couldn’t see sending it all to a thrift store, so I am doing what I enjoy doing. I am creating joy around the nation by selling the treasures on Etsy! I have been selling vintage items (mostly kitchen) for the last 5 years or so. This is a perfect solution! The family gets to know that these cherished gems will bring joy to someone that wants to love it as much as they did. And I have the pleasure of hearing all the history and passing them on to a new family.
You never know what you are going to find in these treasure troves. While going through Mary’s family items we came across a shirt box. When I opened it I found a pretty little outfit for a toddler. Later that day Mary popped in and I showed it to her. She immediately excitedly said “I have a picture of me in this outfit! It was my when I was a one year old!!” Needless to say she kept that outfit and some other treasures we had stumbled upon.
I have made a new friend recently, Vicki, who is going through a similar situation. Vicki was talking about not knowing what to do with the cherished memory holders that they did not want to necessarily send to a thrift store. Don’t get me wrong, I have found many treasures on my thrift store adventures, however, it is different when it is your own family. Mary told her how we were helping her family take care of the items by putting them on Etsy.
A few days later my new friend, Vicki, and I were going through her family’s cherished gems. Out on the counter she had a jewelry box with some older costume jewelry. As we visited about the clip on earrings, she told me about how she remembered her mom would put these (a particular set of clear beads tied together making earrings) in her suitcase for her parents trip to Las Vegas. I could tell that this was a special memory for her.
I said that I have seen how people would take old costume jewelry and create a framed Christmas tree on a black velvet background to put out during the holidays. It would be something she could do with her memory holders to display them.
Later we were going though some cute vintage children’s clothes. I really enjoyed hearing who wore what and when they did. In the bottom of the pile was some beautiful, very old dresses. They may have been hand sewn baptism dresses with hand embroidered designs on them. Anyway, they were really pretty. She decided that she would keep those. Vicki had the great idea of framing them. That would be a marvelous way to preserve them. They are truly a work of art.
Pinterest Hallofframes.com
What do I do as their temporary “keeper of the treasures”? As caretaker, I research to find out more about the items. I take between 2 to 10 photos and carefully put them into their storage boxes. Then I give them a fair price and put them in my Etsy online shop and website. Each treasure has its own unique listing and photos to show off its wonderful attributes.
After that I wait for that perfect someone who is looking for that one particular item to add to their collection. Or maybe it is the saucer to go with their lonely teacup (yes this happened). It could be that special item that sparks a memory of the days of childhood that they would like have again. I love that they have allowed me to be their “keeper of the treasures” and pass these cherished possessions to another family to love.
Their memories will continue to live at someone else’s home and eventually get passed on to the next generation of “the keepers of the treasures”.
Krisa
A vintage collection starts as a memory and becomes your story.