Gifts of Heritage 2013

As the leaves begin to turn here in the Northeastern United States, we begin to think about the holiday season. In past years, I have posted about making holiday gifts of heritage. [Gifts of Heritage 2011 ;  Gifts of Heritage 2010] This year, I am going to post about finding gifts. Fresh from my local Comicon event, I am thinking about the things from our childhoods that bring back memories. Giving items that bring back holiday memories for the recipient is fun, but it is also fun for each of us to set out on a mission to find items from our past.


Love for Comics Span Generations

Last week, we walked through the aisles of the Granite State Comicon searching for My Little Pony items for my young crazed fan. MLP has a huge audience these days. In fact, My Little Pony was an "in" toy for 80s children a few years younger than I. Today's audiences are a whole different breed. Kids today like the big eyed ponies, rather than the rounder bodied ones of my youth. The ponies are also popular with "bronies,"which was something unheard of in my day. Comic books bring us together and could make a fabulous heritage gift for any living generation. For my parents, Howdy Doody and Superman comics abound. For me, it was the Marvel superheroes, Archie, and Casper. Check your local comic book store, Ebay, or the local garage sales to seek those characters who bring back happy memories for the holidays. One does not need to be a collector to enjoy a bit of one's most fun childhood reading material.

Food Heritage Gifts

 I'm big on creating and recalling memories with food. Consider filling a Christmas stocking with a comic book and some good old fashioned candies. [Consider that it's also not too late to buy some heritage candy for the Halloween season, since I got a jump start on this column early this year!] Many companies these days offer the candies of old. Search Google for "old fashioned candy."

When I was young, my holidays were filled with potato pancakes and matzoh balls. We don't make these things often enough in my house. While many of us still hold on to cooking and baking traditions, so many of us have given them up. We bake cookies in December in my house, but when I was young my mom covered the dining room table with chocolates that she gave as gifts to teachers and others who helped us throughout the year - chocolate covered cherries, chocolate and mint wafers, peanut butter cups...she even made a chocolate house for the family to enjoy. It would be nice to bring back some of those traditions from my childhood to share with my kid.

Toys with Memories

I plan to include this photo of me drawing in a gift of
brush markers for my daughter this coming holiday season.

The toys from our past still make great gifts and can bring back comforting memories. Do you have memories of a favorite toy? Consider sharing your love for that item writing down your memory of it and including it in a wrapped gift to a child. For example, I remember sitting in our large front hallway zooming Matchbox cars back and forth with the neighbors. My daughter loves to hear stories of my childhood and sharing it through my childhood toys adds to the interest.

This year, I began bringing games into my library for my students. I brought in some of my thinking favorites such as Mille Bornes and Battleship. I asked the high school students what else they wanted. Reminiscing about their earlier childhoods already, they asked for games such as Candyland, Monopoly and Chutes and Ladders. I was surprised that teens wanted to play these kids' games. I was equally surprised that so many of their games were games that conjured memories from my own childhood.

So when thinking about gifts this year, think about those memories that you can share. Think about connecting generations with gifts that appeal to all. Go out and look for them if you don't have them in your home. Bring your child to help you find gifts for your significant other. Talk to your parents and spouses about their most special old toys and foods and try to bring back that feeling of "specialness". They say that you can't really ever go back, but you can keep the memories alive. And, you can create memories for future generations based on past traditions.

Gifts of Heritage 2011

Last year, I posted about Gifts of Heritage in October. I am a little behind in thinking about gifting this year. However, in keeping with my theme of upbeat posts through the holidays, I return to this subject. It certainly is not too late to be a little crafty about your gifts. (Trust me, it is hard to bite my tongue about Mitt Romney's records and to not write a post about it...but I made myself a promise to continue giving thanks through my blog this year by writing happy posts.)

I am in part inspired by Marian Pierre-Louis at Roots and Rambles and her "Simple Gift for Non-Crafty Family Historians."

Here is a list of some additional simple gifts that don't take a long time:

• Create an ornament with your name and the date. My tree is overstuffed with ornaments and each one reminds me of the time I got it. Some of my favorites are the ones I made. You can paint on plain ball ornaments. Or, this year, I took my daughter to a local pottery place where they provide ceramic ornaments to paint that are then fired.
• To up the ante a bit, consider Creating Your Own Heirloom Photo Ornament
• Last week, I mentioned my project to create "art trading cards." These little cards are a little larger than a business card. With a little effort, they can be very beautiful. Consider using copies of materials from your personal archives as embellishments. Here's a web site with good artist trading card info and samples.
• Paper mache is a fun craft that can be useful for a fun afternoon of creating heirloom gifts. Make copies of your treasured documents and use the copies to mold tree shapes, snowmen and more. 
• Give a traditional calendar gift a little twist by adding a favorite family recipe for each month. I use Shutterfly to create calendars with pictures of the grandkids for my parents. For non-relatives, sharing your treasured recipes is a good way to share a bit of your family's love with dear friends. 

Quite honestly, last year's list is a pretty good one. So check back there for more ideas if you haven't done so already.

If you are inspired by anything here and do create something, I'd love to see it and share it with other readers if you're game! Drop me an email and a picture at Melissa @ mannon dot org to show me what you've done. If you've got other unique ideas, I'd love to see those too. Happy holidays! Happy archiving! Happy crafting!

A Gift of Ephemera and a Little Research

It's the gift giving season and my friends are being quite thoughtful...

A few weeks ago, my friend April mentioned some "antique" cards she had. She purchased them as a teen because she thought they were pretty. She's carted them around to new homes with her for years. She's wondered about their age, thought about them little, and thought perhaps I would put them to better use. I jumped at the chance to add these items to my collection of archives and ephemera. Thanks April!

The first thing I wanted to do was to find the age on the items, so I could at least give my thoughtful "gifter" that information in return for her generosity. This set is lovely and complete, including birth announcements, envelopes (with glue bleeding through seams from age, composition, and deterioration), and the original box. I first looked up "Baby Batiste" on the Internet since this is what is written on the box cover. Dead end. I then noticed in little words on the side "Hobby Stationers Inc." I decided to pursue this route and came up empty handed with an Internet search. However, right below the company name is written, "Colorado Spring Colo." I used the Internet to locate a library in Colorado Springs. I requested any information the librarians could find about the company. Within a day, Sandy of the Special Collections at the Pikes Peak Library had pulled three articles for me. According to the first article, Hobby Stationers came to Colorado Springs from Kansas City in 1946. This told me that my stationery was made after that date. The second article told me that the company were the "largest manufacturers of humorous and novel stationery in the country," so I know these are not unusual and are more likely a typical sample of stationery from 1940s-1970s -- a perfect specimen to share with students who take my "Preserving Memories" classes. The final article showed me the new home of the stationery company as it appeared in 1947 and included photos of workers creating their stationery. What a lovely bit of history to go with the original item! Thank you Sandy for providing the wonderful information so quickly, proving once again that librarians and archivists are efficient, hard working, and a valuable resource!

Later this week on the ArchivesInfo blog..."A Gift of Ephemera - Replicated Antique Christmas Cards" (from my friend Regina)

Gifts of Heritage

I sit with a cranberry candle burning and a warm cup of tea beside my computer as autumn rushes on. The mums burn in brilliant shades of purple and yellow, blending with the changing leaves around my New Hampshire home. The maple trees have already begun shedding and I was admiring the many hues of their leaves along my wet driveway this morning on my way back from delivering my daughter to the school bus. Land's End delivered my fleece shoes yesterday and I am preparing for the colder weather to come.

It is around this time each year that I try to start preparing for the holidays. That is, I really TRY. It is difficult to think about December when I am surrounded by pumpkins and apples. In fact, I brought my daughter to the craft store yesterday and tried to entice her into thinking about diving into some winter holiday creativity, but she was stuck on black cats and witches...
However, if one wants to make the family holiday season special, there is no better way than to include a celebration of heritage and traditions with your festivities. That means starting to prepare in October, thinking ahead to an icy driveway in New England instead of a wet one, and imagining lights in my windows instead of fake spiderwebs.

So, I've put together a list of some gift ideas that you can start preparing now. Treasure your personal archives and put them to use. Bring a sense of your family's history into the middle of your festivities. (Thank you to those who follow my Facebook page who have shown enthusiasm for this idea! I have included information about some places to get more information and where to find professionals to help you.)


For Display:

• Frame or re-frame something that represents one of your ancestors - a diploma, sampler, marriage certificate. (Be sure to use preservation safe methods with originals or, for documents, frame copies and store the originals away. There are books available to help you with framing, but it is not an easy job. [It was not my favorite part of my professional photography work when I did that sort of thing.] A professional framer can help you with this, but make sure it is someone familiar with preservation safe methods.)
• Create a shadowbox (with UV filtering glass) of your grandmother's wedding gloves and veil. (A good framer can help you with this too. If the items are not in ideal condition, see a conservator such as the good folks at NEDCC in Massachusetts.)
• Scan and copy some treasured documents and ephemera and create a collage that includes things representing various loved ones
• Turn a child's story or report into a published book using an online service such as Createspace. Have copies of it printed for your child and their grandparents (and you).
• Find new cases for old family tin types by scouting out antique stores
• Take the words from a wedding ceremony or another important family event and turn them into art. (I hired an artist to write a poem from my brother's ceremony in calligraphy. She included an abstract image on the top using the colors of the bridesmaids dresses.)

For personal reminiscences:

• Create a booklet of college correspondence you exchanged with your mother (or father, or grandparent, or aunt...) Copy it and bind it through an online service or at a copy center.
  
• Help your parents organize and preserve their photos and papers. (A professional archives consultant can help you with this.)
  
• Think about things you share with family members (an alma mater, a hobby, etc.) and create side by side generational images. (My daughter is now a Brownie. Somewhere I have a photo from my "moving up" exercises when I transitioned from Brownies to Girl Scouts. I will find the picture and frame it next to an image of her in her uniform.)
• Write a food diary
• Digitize old videotapes of your children. (A professional videographer can assist with this.)
  
• Gather documentation and mementos related to an important family event or tradition and create a memory box using preservation safe supplies from a company such as Gaylord. Use items you own or expand your documentation and ask other members of your family or community to contribute. (A professional archives consultant can help you coordinate this if you need assistance coordinating a complete collection of family documentation.)
  

For the whole family:

• Begin a holiday scrapbook for each family member. Scan photos of past holidays with your family. Make new prints and include them in the first few pages. Give family members new pages you create with new photos each year.
• Scan old photos and create a CD with treasured family images for each family member (A professional photo lab can help you with this [or sometimes a professional archives consultant.])
• Scan and retouch treasured old photos and give copies to everyone (See the example I've included of my grandmother above.
• Create an online memory site about something important to you. Encourage people to contribute reminiscences and scanned images of their memories. (I created one on Facebook for people in the neighborhood where I grew up. I tracked them down and invited them to join a private group. You can do something similar for your family.)
• Go (or write) to the library in the neighborhood where your grandparents were raised. Track down stories and information related to their lives in the local newspaper. (Marriage announcements are a good place to start.) Ask the local librarian or archivist to help you find more information about them to share with your family. Make copies for everyone. (Be advised that some places may need to charge you fees to cover their time and expenses or that they may need to refer you to a professional researcher.)
  
• Begin your family genealogy. Or, if you have done your genealogy, make it into art work. Design (or hire an artist to design) a tree with all of your branches. (There are genealogy professionals who can help you track down your family genealogy)

Be creative, but be conscious of your items preservation needs. Honor your personal history and make old treasures into new gifts of heritage.

Do you have more ideas for sharing your heritage as a gift? Please share them with us in the comments section.