Don’t Let This Happen to You . . .

The other day this ad appeared in our local Daily Press on 4/1/2018 titled:  “PLEA”

The photo is blurry and hard to make out what it is exactly. It appears to be a porcelain statue of some kind, depicting 4 people; 2 on the side of an opening and a couple sitting down, holding hands? The plea reads:

“If you purchased this item at the Estate Sale held on Monday, March 24, 2018, at 297 Maiden Lane, Newport News, Virginia, please call Florence Bernstein at (804) 288-9405. Urgent. The item was erroneously included in the sale. It is a deeply sentimental piece passed down from my Mother. Reward. Thank you.”

How sad is this! Pretty sad if there is a reward being offered.

 

Why are people so anxious to part with their things? Here is a perfect example of why I advise my readers to not be so quick to unclutter, downsize, etc., in the name of clearing out the household, albeit for some good reasons, others not so good. This situation makes a clear announcement how when you decide to get rid of your stuff, you must be very vigilant while doing so. Having someone help you is fine, but they may not know the value, either it be monetary or emotional, that is attached to an item. I would imagine that this happens quite a lot if an organizational professional comes in to your home to help you decide what to sell, give away or trash. And if the owner is distraught, troubled, worried, or upset while she or he is reorganizing their life, mistakes are made, sometimes much to the detriment of the owner.

So, don’t be so eager to part with what are essential your memories. Not only are some things still near and dear to your heart, they are your physical DNA, a part of your heritage, so keep it, preserve it, display it, and when it is time to pass it on, it will be ready for the next generation to continue your family’s history.

That is what having a Family Museum is about.

P.S. I called Florence to find out the current status of her missing heirloom, but as of this date, I have not received a reply. If and when I do, I will let you know what happen to her “deeply sentimental piece.”

First Day of Spring 2018 . . .

On this 1^st day of spring, though there may still be snow in many places, and in the Midwest tornedos are making their rounds again, these too will pass and spring is here. So, it’s that time again . . . spring-cleaning time! Augh? Maybe yes, maybe no, nevertheless, when weather permits, open those windows, let in the fresh spring air, and clean, clean, clean.

Just like everything in life, organization is the key to process and procedure, starting with making lists of where, what and how to get the jobs done. Like many, closets always seem to be a bane in everyone’s life and is the first place to go to tidy up. However, there is another place where there is a plethora of stuff, not the physical kind, but the intellectual property and pictorial kind. I am talking about what’s in your computer’s hard drive. Augh again.

The hard drive in a computer is meant for storage and is like your long-term memory, storing many extremely important facts about your life and everyone connected with it. RAM, an acronym for random access memory, is your system's short-term memory.

All this is fine and good, but one-dimensional. You can’t feel, smell or hold the memory stored in a computer. I’m not talking about important documents, I am talking about photographs, the ones that show a time, event, person and maybe the very thing you no longer have in your possession: a piece of jewelry grandma wore on her wedding day, the toy truck his grandpa made for him, the funny crayon drawing of her papa juggling. Now, if you had saved these things, how much richer your life could be.   

Now don’t get me wrong. I use a computer every day, writing, researching, and saving all the above. But they are just words. And those words are about the very things that are in our Family Museum. But what is by more important than words, it is the photographs that are so easily stored . . . and forgotten . . . that should be made whole again. Not kept digitized, but printed and saved in a book you hold in your hands or in a picture frame you hang on your wall.

 

And better yet, if you are fortunate to still have the object that appeared in the picture, how lovely it would be to print out that picture and place it in a shadow box along with the item and include a short story about who, when, what and why the picture was taken. Then hang it on your wall or place it on a shelf. That way, you will see it often and be reminded of that moment, that person who perhaps was near and dear to your heart, and event that perchance changed the course of someone’s life.      

So when your computer needs a spring cleaning, or needs to be replaced, be circumspect of the photographs stored there. Be prudent and discerning when selecting the images your print out. I have files galore of picture and I know there is no way I could print them all out, however, here is my suggestion I will pass onto you that makes this task easy and enjoyable. After a vacation and over 200-plus pictures have been taken, I sort them out, edit as much as possible, and put them in a file to go into a photograph album you create online. There are several of these companies that provide wonderful creative choices for you to design as many albums as you want. I personally like the company Snapfish and have made over a dozen albums that are now display on the table in the family room to share.

There are so many facets to having a Family Museum that can be located in many places in your home, including the walls. So clean up that computer, breathe new life into those digital files that are nothing but encryptions, and make them whole again and support your long term and short term memory. For memories tell stories of the people, places and things from the past, that contribute to future histories.  Embrace your heritage. It makes you who you are.  

Family Museum Room-by-Room - The Family Room

Other than the kitchen, the family room is the busiest room in most homes because this is where the family gathers for entertainment, special events and for taking a long-deserved nap (that’s when it is quite in there).

Our family room is in the center of the house, is fairly large except much of the room is used for passage which means furniture is not allowed in this space. Our family room also has a quirky name. We call it our “Club Room.” We even have a small brass plaque announcing its moniker.

This room, no matter what you call it, is a perfect place for Family Museum collections. As I had mentioned in a past post, this room may have a media center where the TV is placed in the center with perhaps books, nick-knacks and pictures taking up the rest of the space.

Not only do these things in the room represent the family’s history, interests and such, they are part of your family heritage. Perhaps there is a piece of inherited furniture, art work painted or drawn by a family member, or antiques given or purchased. One thing for certain, this room is very much a part of your House Museum. Here are a few pictures of our Family Museum collections.

The paintings were done by my husband's mother Gladys over 75 years ago. They are scenes from her home in Minnesota. The photograph is of her parents' home in Norway.  

 

As I had mention before, we like to give our things names. This china cabinet is called Caroline's Chest because my dear friend Caroline gave it to me when she was downsizing into a smaller home. The shelves have silver serving pieces and the drawers turned out to be a great place to store winter gloves & scarves. So when someone is looking for a pair of gloves, we say, “Look in Caroline’s chest.”

On the fireplace mantle is a bronze statue by Remington of a cowboy shooting off his gun for what reason I am not sure. I bought it for Keith because he just loved all the cowboy & Indian movies and TV shows from his childhood. His favorite actor was John Wayne.

No, it is not a meteor, though we thought so for a long time until Keith took it to the local planetarium to have it analyzed. It is a bolder of molten rock spewed by a volcano eons ago that landed in his Uncles fields in Minnesota. In fact, he would plow up several of these rocks and used them in his house and barn. Keith remember playing with them when he was a little boy but had no idea what they were. The rock sits on the bar and when we have guests over, they are simply amazed by its weight and gnarly surface. What a great conversational piece.

What are your favorite pieces in your Family Room?    

Next week’s posts will focus on some of the collections in our Family Museum. Until then, have a great weekend.

Friday Feature

How are you doing on going through those boxes stored in all sorts of places that hold the clues to your identity that was discussed in the previous 4/4/2014 post on genealogical research? I hope at least you are giving it as much time as you can.

And what a great time to be reminded of that project and quest to find out your heritage than on this day that gave birth to our nation, The 4^th of July, 1776. Take a moment and ponder how many people became free from tyranny, free to have a voice in what they believed in and how they practiced their faith.

While we celebrate this day, let’s take a moment to reflect on how our ancestors arrived on this great land we call America. Mine like yours came from many different countries. My father’s parents came from Lithuania. My mother’s came from Italy. Before organizations like Ancestry.com and National Geographic came on the scene to help us create family trees and do DNA research, all we had were what records, papers, pictures, keepsakes, stories, both written and verbally handed down, that gave us a clue to our heritage.

When I stated our family museum, I tried my best to display as much of what I could that was saved, but I was not doing justice to it all. So eventually the museum expanded into another part of the hall, located under a windowless slanted eave, about 8 feet deep by 8 feet wide. That became the Grandparents Museum. I will blog in full about the collections there at a later date. But for now, I want to encourage you to gather as much as you and other family members have saved and bring them together at whoever’s home has the space to give your family’s heritage is due respect.    

I also want to promote this websites to further your knowledge of what is out there that can be of great assistance to you to investigate from whence you came. I hope it inspires and even raises your spirits if at any time you doubt your legacy, family traditions, customs and culture. http://www.ancestry.com/, https://familysearch.org/, http://usgenweb.org/, http://www.ellisisland.org/, http://www.statueofliberty.org/,

I also want to share these images and information on Ellis Island. If you have not visited this valued place that honors the courage of those immigrants that wanted a new world for their families, do so.

Many years ago, my daughter Tiffeni and I went to Ellis Island. We had little knowledge of my nana’s experience when she came to America. It is very unfortunate that little was saved other than verbal stories, some photographs and much misinformation. When we visited Ellis Island, its was just beginning to restore the buildings and create the data bases they have today. So we wandered through this massive building, many places closed off due to construction and restoration. When we entered the Great Hall on the mezzanine level, the expanse was breathtaking. Just at that moment, a choral group on the other end of the hall started to sing “God Bless America.” I started to cry as I envisioned my nana with her sister, clutching their small children and everything they owned as they filed through inspections lines along with thousands of other immigrants waiting for their turn to be either accepted into America or sent back to the country they left.

Before we got back on the ferry to return to New York City, we stopped at the American Immigrant Wall of Honor. As the day got colder and the misty air wetter, we encouraged each other to locate any of the names of our relatives that passed through Ellis Island. We could find only one, that of my mother’s oldest brother, Michael Albano. We were thrilled. We took pictures of his name, often wiping off the rain from the camera lens.

As we stood on the ferry, our eyes focused on the Statue of Liberty. We tried to imagine how our ancestors felt when they first saw the statue, her majestic figure holding up the light of freedom they must of have felt in their souls. Though her stoic expression may have casted some fear and doubt, her patient stance told the immigrants to feel proud of themselves for they endured rough crossings, unpleasant conditions, yet still strong and capable of starting a new life.  

So thank you, nana and the rest of my ancestors, along with my hubby’s Keith’s family who came from Norway and Germany, for if it were not for their bravery and courage, we would not be here today. So celebrate your freedom and feel proud of our America, for we are and will always be the best and strongest nation in the world. Have a wonderful 4^th.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

FYI: A word about National Geographic’s Genographic Project. Since 2005, their cutting-edge technology and use of advanced DNA analysis and working with indigenous communities to help answer fundamental questions about where humans originated and how we came to populate the Earth, is enabling us to shine a powerful new light on our collective past. By participating in the latest phase of this real-time scientific project, you can learn more about yourself than you ever thought possible. You will also help support the Genographic Legacy Fund, which works to conserve and revitalize indigenous cultures around the world. Visit: http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/

 

 

 

 

Friday Feature

                                      Genealogical Research

 

Boxes hidden or stored in the attic or basement can contain valuable information you may have never dreamed possible to discover. They may prove to be an invaluable wealth of knowledge when beginning a genealogical project. While some of the information is piecemeal and perhaps some of the contents divided between family sides, but there are probably enough clues to lead to others who have what you need and other potential sources. Listed below are additional items that you might find around your home that can help you create your genealogical history.

*Old family Bible with names and dates handwritten inside.

*Births, deaths and marriages dates recorded that occurred in the family over the years

*Birth certificates of great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, etc.

*Application for naturalization; books and papers associated with this history, a

  train ticket, ship manifest, and other travel documents

*Last Wills & Testaments; major and primary documents

*Military enlistment and discharge papers, medical records, group & individual    

  photographs, weapons, uniforms, letters and postcards from military bases or units

  providing histories that put an individual at a particular place and time

*Licenses; old driver's licenses, professional licenses, or hunting/fishing licenses

*Property deeds, rental agreements, property records or census information

*Old newspaper clippings on current events, local politics, world happenings, weather *Hand-written  

  business ledger with notes on prevailing business practices, contracts

*School records, report cards, papers, yearbooks, certificates of achievement, diplomas

*Religious items; baptismal, communion, confirmation, marriage certificates,

  burial Mass cards, obituaries. 

*Letters of all kinds: friendship, love, family correspondence that may yield valuable  

  insight into the relationships, unique glimpses into personalities

*Scrapbooks; some of the most interesting and useful information can be found in these

  mementos that many people keep. They provide documentation of certain events in that

  person's life such as athletics, vacations, and entertainment. These certainly provide a

  unique peek into one's life and add wonderful anecdotes to a family history.

*Keepsakes; jewelry passed down from parent to child-each with its own story. Some  

  have engravings that provide valuable clues, furniture, artwork, clothes, toys, books, etc.

Study the history of your family . . . all sides . . . using whatever documents to discover the relationships between people. When you have all your ducks in a row, start a Family Tree. When that is finished, frame it by itself or incorporate into a shadow box where you can add small items that will lend more interest. And don’t forget to involve the whole family; after all, it is their history, too.

  

Next Post: A brief hiatus and I will be back with more fun and interesting aspects to creating your family museum.