Monday Memories

Backed up by my family

Today I'm going to identify what's in this photograph--a lot of family history. Certainly, I'm in it, dressed for my painting workshop in my black cat apron that my sister gave me for Christmas about 8 years ago.


On the bottom two shelves is my premiere issue collection of magazines. About two years ago I put them into subject groups--women's, men's, sports, technology, science, etc., but they are all messed up again. My blog about this hobby, In the Beginning, is only occasionally updated. It feels too much like work, I suspect. The red and green box on the right of the bottom shelf contains a rug hooker [Griffin Rug Machine] with the printed instructions which was my great-grandmother's. I think it would have been high tech for its day since most people probably crocheted scrap rugs in the 1880s. The green is actually tape to keep the red box together. On the left below the corner of the red bag I'm holding is a narrow wooden box of children's blocks, with a woodburn design crafted by my Uncle Leslie when he was a little boy.

On the second shelf are two etched glass jelly jars with glass lids that belonged to my grandmother, and the jug behind them stored some kind of liquid on her parents' farm. It probably came from Adams County, Pennsylvania which is where they grew up. In front of the jug being used as a book end, is an old black iron--probably weighs about 10 lbs and is made of iron, with a removable wooden handle. It was heated on the cook stove and used to press clothes. It was also high tech for its era, because it caused much less damage to the hand of the presser than the "old fashioned" irons made completely of metal.

On the third shelf is a small music box my mother gave me perhaps in the late 1980s. Behind me (you can't see it) is a iron shoe form for a child's shoe--apparently my great grandfather used it either to make shoes for his children or repair them. There is also his rolled up tape measure--he was a carpenter in Rockford when he first came to Illinois in the 1850s and used his wages to buy acreage near Ashton. And there is a metal dough punch with four blades he made for his wife.

On the fourth shelf over my left shoulder is a photo of my parents taken in 1991 about a decade before they died. I think this was for the church directory--there must be millions of photographs like this spread around the homes of America. Over my right shoulder is a thread spool holder with a pin cushion on top, also made by my great grandfather for his wife. It's pretty handy, and I assume some of the thread is over 100 years old. Next to it is a brass trivet I found in 1968 buried in the dirt at our house where our children grew up. I cleaned it up and have used it for a variety of tasks--now it just holds a book. I think it is brass.

And of course, behind me are lots of old books from four generations. They look like they have fancy bindings, but books of my grandparents' era had a lot of chemicals in the paper, and disintegrate easily. Like me, they bought for value, not for quality. I think it is funny that I saved a book from my childhood called "Bruce" about a collie, never imagining someday it would be my name.

The shiney white, blue and green box on the far left of the 5th shelf contained a card catalog of my grandparents' library, assembled by several members of the family when they were closing up their home after their deaths in the 1960s. This list of books, found by me in the late 1980s, launched several publishing projects, including a spin off into agricultural magazines used by farm families in the early 20th century and women who wrote for Ohio farm magazines in the 19th century.

You can barely see the top shelf, but that holds children's books, some old, some from my childhood--mostly horse stores--and some I purchased because I liked the illustrations (from the days when I wanted to write a children's book).

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My visitors and those I'll visit this week are: Anna, Becki, Chelle, Chelle Y., Cozy Reader, Debbie, Friday's Child, Gracey, Irish Church Lady, Janene, Janene in Ohio, Jen, Katia, Lady Bug, Lazy Daisy, Ma, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Melli, Michelle, Paul, Susan, Viamarie,