Treasures unearthed while moving.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So I’m finally moving out of the house. While I certainly don’t regret living at home my first three years of college(I’m going to school locally and never felt like throwing away money on a dorm), the opportunity has presented itself and the time has come.

Emptying out my closet, I came across a long-forgotten box labeled ‘mementos.’ I pulled it down and opened it up. Turns out it’s chock-full of school-related stuff from preschool through about sixth grade.

It’s hard to describe just how overwhelming it was to look through this stuff. When I was in fourth grade, Hurricane Andrew destroyed most of what we owned. So I’ve never had much in the way of memories from my earliest days. Somehow this box survived and was even added to a bit afterwards.

Some of the things in the box:

A plaster handprint from preschool.
The sheet music from my first piano recital (The Ballad of Davy Crocket).
Several pictures of the family pre-Hurricane.
Many report cards, homework assignments and teacher evaluations.
A third grade journal.
An entire photo album. :eek:

As amazing as it all is for me, my mother could hardly handle it. She had to leave the room after a bit of sorting.

I also found one of those nerf guns that shoots suction darts.

Overall, an extraordinarily satisfying day.

2

I’m in the process of building one of those momento boxes. I’ve been saving stuff since around 6th grade, and once or twice a year I add miscellaneous little trinkets and things that I may find significant. I don’t know how much of it will mean anything in the years to come, but each time I add to it I get a chance to analyze my life so far. I may eventually forget about the box and then find it decades later, which is currently the plan.

3

My best find was some antique home-made doll clothes from the late 1800’s, early 1900’s. They belonged to my grandmother and she thoughtfully included small notes to explain who made them or what they were for- one was made especially for the doll to partake in a school play. I am trying to find some way to protect and preserve them and am open to suggestions. So far I have only handled them minimally and have left them as found.

4

Wow, imagine finding stuff from your early childhood.
I am a RAAF brat, my father was a pilot in the RAAF.
Every 2 to 3 years we moved to a different state (in Australia) or country (Malaysia - twice.)
Each time it was a case of, “Do you really want to us to cart that across the country,” or, “Do you really want us to put that in storage for 3 years - you don’t really want to keep that do you?”
That may be the reason why I am now a bit of a Bower bird.
I tend to keep a lot of crap - just in case… :smiley:

5

Well, although I spend a lot of time at my grandfather’s place now, I’ve never moved. In fact, my mother’s lived in the same house her entire life. My parents bought the house from her father when they married.

However, over the years, a lot of stuff has accumulated in this house, which has led to the discovery or re-discovery of a lot of cool stuff from both my mother’s childhood, as well as mine and my sister’s. And many cousins, as well. Practically every room in the house served as a bedroom at some point in time.

Anyhoo, I can’t list all the old toys which I’ve dug up during massive cullings over the years. However, there was one item which I found which I just adore. While cleaning out one of the storage closets (set under the slanting ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms), I found a calendar.

No one knows where it came from, but the common consensus is that it belonged to one of the men who helped build the house. It’s a one-piece pocket calendar from 1895, about nine centimeters wide and 14 centimeters high.

“THIS CARD will not wear out by being carried in the pocket for one year.” :smiley:

On the front of the card is, to my knowledge, a pretty risque picture for 1895. A practically fully-clothed woman, with a fancy feathered hat and puffy sleeved blouse, with one foot up on the seat of a chair. Her elbow resting on the knee of that leg - that naked leg! :eek:

I believe I made a half-hearted attempt at trying to find this image online. When I get the chance, I’ll do a more comprehensive search, of the company advertised on the calendar - The Sanden Electric Co. (N.Y.) - and the printer of the calendar - Press of Leon P. Kuhl (Broadway, N.Y.). There’s no credit for the picture.

Anyhoo…