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Post by gardenmoma on Dec 30, 2005 22:09:46 GMT -7
Question Binders in which to preserve and display hundreds of holy cards from funerals, special occasions, etc. Question #2 How to organize them? Family groups? Occasions? Dates? I always thought I was a little bit "weird" because I save almost every holy card that comes my way...just use them as bookmarks or sort of pitch them in one of several areas...desk, box in bookcase, etc. But then...when I cleaned out my Mom's apartment last summer, I found literally the "Mother Lode" of holy cards. I handed them to my husband who was sorting things for me thinking he would want to immediately pitch them However...he made the astute observation they would be / can be very important in genealogical information. So, now both mine and my mother's need to be removed from plastic bags, etc. and organized. Kind of reminds me of the character "Uncle Junior" on the HBO series "The Sopranos" who remarked at a wake "Why don't kids collect holy cards, the way they do baseball cards?"
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forza
Cosmopolitan
Posts: 514
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Post by forza on Dec 31, 2005 3:20:16 GMT -7
I have to admit I have been throwing away all the Christmas cards I had received this year and all without a sense of guilt. I decided to keep the messages in my heart instead and don't bother with the cards as such. I put them onto my recyclables! I have updated an address here and said goodbye papperthing! Forza
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Post by wujjohn on Dec 31, 2005 3:20:31 GMT -7
I also have several hundred. My mother always saved them when she went to the viewing. I save them also. I put them in a small file draw in alphabetical order. I have some from the 1920s that the information was filled in by hand. It is a good source for my family tree.
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Post by rdywenur on Dec 31, 2005 8:10:59 GMT -7
Better yet...upload them onto a CD.
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nancy
European
Posts: 2,144
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Post by nancy on Dec 31, 2005 9:25:47 GMT -7
I would save them for the genealogical information and also for sentimental reasons. My Mother also had such a collection, I saved the ones from family and close family friends, but did not keep the others. The cards for her parents (died in the 1940s in Massachusetts) are in Polish.
At the moment mine are organized by family and are in my family research notebooks. The archival plastic protector sheets sold for trading cards or business cards might fit (maybe not, I think I tried those once ...)
Rdy's suggestion to scan the important ones is also good - why didn't I think of that when I was scanning old photos? Will do that today!
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nancy
European
Posts: 2,144
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Post by nancy on Dec 31, 2005 9:30:05 GMT -7
I also have several hundred. My mother always saved them when she went to the viewing. Collecting these cards was a big deal for people in my (our) parents generation. At my Mother's wake 9+ years ago, I could not believe the enthusiasm with which those cards were received. I did have the morbid thought at the time that the recipients collected them as a symbol of how many people they had outlived.
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Bob S
European
Rainbow Bear
Posts: 2,052
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Post by Bob S on Dec 31, 2005 11:27:11 GMT -7
gardenmomma,wujohn, forza. et-al in the forum. Collecting Holy Cards is NOT weird and who knows; perhaps this collection will become valuable in the future. The bit of advice about putting them on a CD is good, if, AND ONLY IF the CD is to be used as a catalog of your collection. If you can, visit a shop (hobby?) that deals with collections; IE, sports cards, match books, stamps, envelopes, coins etc. I even use vinyl three hole binder plastic to store star maps, call cards etc. The object of the binder inserts and holders is to preserve and protect. I use cheap three ring binders with vinyl plastic inserts for some of my oddball collections. I put hand made labels on the spine of the binder to denote what it contains GARDENMOMMA (Ihad to get your attention). Many of the late Polish stamp issues are very nice BUT many of them are known as pre-cancelled. A pre-canceled stamp is one that has never been used to mail postage (primary purpose of a stamp). The stamps are in new condition and the gum on the back of the stamp is still intact. The stamps have a cancelation mark on their front and that is what seperates them from a mint stamp or used stamp. This type of stamp had only one use, and that was to raise revenues for post offices and some vendors. The pre-cancels have only one use and that is to fill empty spaces. A pre-cancel of the modern era has almost no value as a collectable other then to look at and admire the artwork. Poland is not the only country to make pre-cancels as this was done in other Eastern European countries as well as the United Arab Republic countries. A used stamp that was actually used for postage has more value than fist fulls of pre-cancels. In Poland there was once a paper shortage and the stock that was used to make stamps had a very high rag content and these are very collectable. The newer of any country may look nice but there is a lot they lack. The dies of older issue stamps were made by an engraver and we can enjoy the skill and artistry of the engraver when he cut these dies. We can enjoy the history and times that are imparted in the stamps (I have a Pilsudski mourning stamp from Poland) I also have a pre-wwI collection from (Bosnia-Herzegovina), mint condition. So gardenmomma, be forwarned and beware of pre-cancels.
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Post by gardenmoma on Dec 31, 2005 18:09:38 GMT -7
Especially for Bob S... "I even use vinyl three hole binder plastic to store star maps, call cards etc. The object of the binder inserts and holders is to preserve and protect. I use cheap three ring binders with vinyl plastic inserts for some of my oddball collections."I have learned from experience that vinyl is not good I inherited a rather extensive collection of 35mm slides last year documenting my Garden Club for the past several decades. The woman who originated and maintained the collection used vinyl sleeves and notebooks - in a spirit of economy, notebooks were scavenged from her husband's discarded yearly professional reports, etc. The notebooks were sticky, tacky and slimy when I received them. I bought archival-quality photo storage systems for transfer. My husband was a peach and helped me with this onerous job. I couldn't throw the binders and sleeves away fast enough. So...photographic stuff I know a little about....
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Post by gardenmoma on Dec 31, 2005 18:18:37 GMT -7
I have to admit I have been throwing away all the Christmas cards I had received this year and all without a sense of guilt. I decided to keep the messages in my heart instead and don't bother with the cards as such. I put them onto my recyclables! I have updated an address here and said goodbye papperthing! Forza Forza, Thank you very much for your - to me - very important message about Christmas cards. I am going under in a wealth of what you so aptly call them - paper things As I go through this years Christmas cards, I will be ruthless...and as I fill recycling bins I will say loudly and clearly so my children can hear me GOOD BY PAPER THINGS! And then I will start on previous years' accumulations
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Post by gardenmoma on Dec 31, 2005 18:22:53 GMT -7
I also have several hundred. My mother always saved them when she went to the viewing. I save them also. I put them in a small file draw in alphabetical order. I have some from the 1920s that the information was filled in by hand. It is a good source for my family tree. First of all, John...your picture, every time I see it, reminds me of one of my Mom's older brothers Putting the cards in a small file drawer is a good idea...in alphabetical order is, I suppose, the most logical. I want them to be useful to whomever comes after me
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Bob S
European
Rainbow Bear
Posts: 2,052
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Post by Bob S on Jan 1, 2006 0:13:55 GMT -7
gardenmoma you are most likely correct in a certain way. Color slides use a number of certain chemicals in their make-up as well as their development.. I kept my slides seperated in slots in storage boxes but even in the boxes they began to fade or turn almost red. at this point I invested in a scanner and put all the slides on a CD and used a DVD for back-up. Nancy is correct. archival vinyl is the thing to use but whatever you use just make sure it is acid free. Nancy is probably the super expert in the methods of storage and even I would take her advice. New and improved products are always being developed. The other things to take into consideration are the type and thickness of inks that were used in printing, some never dry; Then there is the place where the items are stored. Heat, moisture/humidity and air quality can take a toll on some items. Talk about weird thing to collect, how about the people who collect string? I think every human is a sort of pack rat in some small fashion...I read about a woman who decided to start collecting old stock certificates from the stock market crash. The people who owned these certificates thought they were worthless because the companies ceased doing business. The lady did research on the companies and found out that many of the firms that went out of business sold their assets to larger companies and the stock that seemed worthless were now worth huge sums of money. Todays trash is tomorrows treasure, take alook at the price on Depression Glass.
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nancy
European
Posts: 2,144
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Post by nancy on Jan 1, 2006 8:12:52 GMT -7
oh I really doubt that!!
but I have read enough photo and scrapbooking and textiles magazines to know about acid-free storgae, etc. Also that there are a lot of new products because of the demand for archival supplies.
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Post by leslie on Jan 1, 2006 10:22:49 GMT -7
Nancy By all means. I am proud of the photo you did for me - I have showed it to all my friends and they think it is excellent. So much so that I have put it on my webshots - hope you don't object. www.community.webshots.com/user/ellray100 Look in the Family and Friends album - I'm not sure which I am!! Leslie.
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nancy
European
Posts: 2,144
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Post by nancy on Jan 1, 2006 11:34:45 GMT -7
Nancy By all means. I am proud of the photo you did for me - I have showed it to all my friends and they think it is excellent. So much so that I have put it on my webshots - hope you don't object. www.community.webshots.com/user/ellray100 Look in the Family and Friends album - I'm not sure which I am!! Leslie. Leslie You are so funny. You have answered a question that I asked in the Photo Gallery folder. Ha Ha . I am going to post the picture over there, not here. btw, I looked at the copy in webshots, and it looks terrible - maybe because it was "saved from email" - I will send you a better copy. the things I go through for these forum members ... ;D
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Post by Jaga on Jan 1, 2006 20:40:23 GMT -7
Guys,
I have a hard time throwing anything away but I have to admit that I sometimes throw away some (not all) of the Christmas cards (the ones which do not have anything else except just the greetings) although I try to keep all letters in my collections. I understand Forza - apartments in Poland are just so small that one cannot collect everything, here in America the houses have much bigger storage space.
My mother used to keep all the letters and also the cards, but since our apartment was so tiny from time to time we had to get rid of some of the postcards, for instance get rid of the postcards from 2-3 years ago, still we were keeping all the letters. It is just the matter of how much you can collect and how much of this collection you will be ever able to see again and again.
Our house again is becoming so busy place and I need to find a better way to arrange all my stuff otherwise I can become lost in it.
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