A few years ago, my husband and I began to watch a television program that later gave rise to the title of this post.
The show was about people who took their possessions to an infamous pawn shop in Las Vegas to see what they could get for their treasures. We enjoyed the show because there were often little sidebars which contained cool nuggets of history about the items people brought into the shop.
There were often episodes where we would say, “I wouldn’t pawn that! I’d keep it!”
But the fact of the matter is simply that one man’s treasure is another man’s junk.
The fact that a guitar signed by [insert famous guitarist’s name here] was the prized possession of the grandpa doesn’t make it the prized possession of the grandson or even of the son.
In one episode, an item held absolutely no sentimental value for the person who brought it in.
“It doesn’t mean anything to me,” he remarked.
That statement got me thinking.
Rather obviously, my thing is genealogy. Specifically, my progenitors.
My daughter, while she thinks knowing our personal family history is great, will have no use for all my notes and compilations of data and information. The tree and the basics and whatever book I manage to finally pound out will be enough.
You see, like the folks on the television program with their to-be-hocked stuff, it’s just not her thing.
So will I do with all of this information I have worked so hard to collect over the past 20+ years?
Well, I am in the process of making a plan to ensure my research is digitally donated to the related county historical societies in my home state upon my demise.
But what about the stuff? Like my grandfather’s chauffeur pin. And my great grandmother’s sugar scoop?
I am in the process of formulating a plan to photograph each item. I will attach a brief history (as it was told to me) and then digitize the whole compilation.
The same goes for each of the photographs of our family members. As they are already digitized, is simple the task of going back into each photo’s Properties and filling out the Description and Comments fields located in the Details tab. It will be a tedious, time consuming task, but it will also be a perfect pass-the-time activity this coming winter! That’s what I plan to do with all of the “it.” How about you? What are your plans for your "it?" |