Did you 'debut' (or 'come out')?

[Creaky]

@Zsofia

Oh, the silver thing used to be very common - they’d get a baby spoon in the pattern and a “spoon pin”, which is, suprise, a little spoon as a pin, in the pattern…

Yeah, mine is Steiff Rose. I still have the baby cup but no idea where the baby spoon is. My mom had one of the regular teaspoons made into a ring in the 70s, when that was kind of a fad. You could also get cuff bracelets made.

As for the silver, a lot of it doesn’t match because of all the different generations. Same with glasses, teacups, etc. Same with the china, but my sister and I at least have enough for about six to eight settings that match.

[Zsofia]

@Creaky

Thank you for the tip, but I think it’s alreday too late for most of the photos. The old family pics I put on the flickr site are the only ones I managed to rescue, and not without a lot of trouble. The others were indeed firmly stuck to the gluey album pages.

My parents aren’t really into expensive photographic or tech stuff, so we have almost all of our old snaps stored like that, unfortunately. The others are loose and either stuck in the albums between tha pages or in shoeboxes. Same with the family Bible. It’s in the basement wrapped in Saran. :eek:

I keep telling myself I’ll do something about that but I never seem to get around to it.

Take the Bible out, for heaven’s sake! Take you five minutes, save things for your grandkids! Call your local land-grant university and ask for advice - at least hereabouts you can talk to the university archivist about the best way to try to salvage your one of a kind family mementoes. I interned in the conservation lab at USC in grad school and my boss fielded a lot of these calls.

DO NOT LAMINATE. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. Just in case any very deluded people might pass by this thread.

[Nawth_Chucka]

@Ellen Cherry

Speaking of horse sperm, here in the Horse Capital of the World, the Rich do deb balls. I had no idea. The newspaper quit printing society stuff a decade ago, and then revived it. So much to my amazement, one day last fall I was treated to a number of photos of debs and their daddies in the Sunday paper. It was amusing how much the people they interviewed highlighted the charity aspect of it all – as though the whole thing was done out of selflessness and concern for the poor. My favorite line was something like, “these young ladies are now ready to take their places as leaders in the philanthropic community.”

The lengths some people will go to to convince themselves that they’re better than other people – and that other people actually agree with them. :rolleyes:

I like to think (in my own naive way) that no charity is ever wasted, and when it’s publicized it’s usually multiplied.

My god, how did we start on horse sperm and archive ideas?? Next we’ll be archiving horse sperm for debutantes to share with the philanthropic community.

[Creaky]

Okay, you’ve guilted me into it!

I usually go home every Sunday for dinner, so next week I’ll ask my mom if I can have the Bible and call the Maryland Institute, College of Arts and ask about how to save our stuff. Honestly, I have no idea about how to preserve any of this. I can’t imagine that anyone would care. After my sister and I croak, it’s the end of the line, as neither of us have, or will have, any kids.

Probably what we’ll end up doing is donating our family stuff to the Maryland Historical Society, if they’re interested. Then, any preservation issues are their problem!

[Queen_Bruin]

@Zsofia

You sure? Check the Sunday papers in “the season”, you might be surprised. Certainly in my hometown if you weren’t aware of that part of society it would totally pass you by.

They put debut announcements front and center on our paper’s website; in print they make it to the second front. It seems mostly prevalent among upper-middle-class blacks where I live (North Los Angeles county).

[Nawth_Chucka]

@Queen Bruin

They put debut announcements front and center on our paper’s website; in print they make it to the second front. It seems mostly prevalent among upper-middle-class blacks where I live (North Los Angeles county).

How are they worded?

[Nava]

When I was in college, one of my classmates complained about having a “debut” the next day. She said your own is fun since you get all these gifts but, “really, going to someone else’s is such a drag!”

We pointed out that, although many of the folks in that particular college were well-off and then some, none of the rest of us “ladies” (8 or 9) had been “presented in society.” We’d seen notices about them in Lecturas and Hola, but never had such a thing and actually found it kind of quaint that she’d had one

My friend’s debut would have been in Barcelona (Spain) in 1984. It seemed to be mostly an excuse for the adults to meet-and-greet and for the girl to get gifts (guys haven’t debuted for ages).

[Queen_Bruin]

@Nawth Chucka

How are they worded?

I wouldn’t know - I usually go right past them. Why?

[Tabula_Rasa]

@Nawth Chucka

How are they worded?

It goes on for three pages, but here you go:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20021229/ai_n10010984

[meenie7]

Heh. Not a chance I would have been caught dead doing something so sexist and outmoded, even if my family had been rich.

My sister used to live in New Orleans, though, and sent me the pages about the debs from the Times-Picayune. I laughed til I cried, in between being angry at how lame and backwards it was.

[Nawth_Chucka]

@Queen Bruin

I wouldn’t know - I usually go right past them. Why?

I wondered how you knew from wording of the article about the upcoming debs that they were upper-middle-class blacks. Were they sponsored by historically black societies or schools?

[Neidhart]

@Carm6773

I am a Past Grand Patriotism for Florida Rainbow. Rainbow is an excellent way to learn how to be a young lady.

www.iorg.org

Do they throw Rainbow Parties?

nyuk nyuk

[burundi]

@Nawth Chucka

I wondered how you knew from wording of the article about the upcoming debs that they were upper-middle-class blacks. Were they sponsored by historically black societies or schools?

In the papers I’ve read, the society pages usually have photos of the debs along with the announcements.

[The_Lovely_Margo_Lane]

@Creaky

Okay, you’ve guilted me into it!

I usually go home every Sunday for dinner, so next week I’ll ask my mom if I can have the Bible and call the Maryland Institute, College of Arts and ask about how to save our stuff.

Actually, I wouldn’t call MICA- there isn’t that much preservation work done there. Better to call the BMA- they have paper conservators who really know their stuff. Johns Hopkins has a good program, too. I know a woman who had an internship there last year. Lemme see if I can find websites for you…

Here’s the page for the BMA Library - they can put you in touch with conservation resources

And here’s the page for JHU’s library’s preservation department.

[Queen_Bruin]

@burundi

In the papers I’ve read, the society pages usually have photos of the debs along with the announcements.

Indeed. Photos tell a thousand words. Also, my area is rather known for being a haven for that demographic.

[Creaky]

@The Lovely Margo Lane

Here’s the page for the BMA Library - they can put you in touch with conservation resources

And here’s the page for JHU’s library’s preservation department.

Thank you! I thought that the Institute would be the first choice, but I seriously had no idea. Maybe I can even get my folks interested. My dad went to Hopkins so I bet this would definitely catch his attention.

Margo Lane… Wasn’t that the Shadow’s girlfriend? That’s one of my dad’s favorite expressions… “Who knows what evil…?”

Also, when I was a little kid and we lived in Baltimore City, my favorite thing was to go to the Baltimore Museum of Art on Sundays. Did you know, they used to have mummies in the basement there? That was my absolute fave thing to see!