Sorting Saturday - A Hoarder's Paradise

A hoarder's paradise is what our guest room has started to look like since I began sorting through the Archival Closet. You see, new treasures of all kinds keep making their way into the guest room as they are discovered in the course of cleaning out the Family Home. They get piled in a very orderly fashion on the guest bed. In the meantime the contents of the Archival Closet, which is also located in the guest room, are being sorted on the guest room floor and other parts of the house. So between all of this "stuff" and the archival materials that have been purchased to house this collection, we I have a bit of a mess on our my hands!

The other day, Husband went into said guest room, looked around, came back out and said it was starting to look like the TV show Hoarders (ouch)! Well, maybe not quite that bad but he does have a point. I mean, if we were to have unexpected company, there would be some major scrambling (and panic) to get that room in order.

So, the Sorting Saturday mission was to get the top of the bed cleared off. As in find permanent homes in the files, or wherever, for those items. Done. Mostly. At least now someone can sleep in there.

Slowly the documents and artifacts are making their way into their new homes in boxes labelled according to family. It's a slow and sometimes painful process but we are getting there.

What I am now beginning to realize is that all of this "stuff" is not going to fit in the Archival Closet. So the next challenge is to figure out a way to utilize the limited space in the Archival Closet more efficiently. Stay tuned.

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Treasure Chest Thursday - Homestead Certificate

While sorting through the Archival Closet, I came across a very old envelope simply labelled Mitchell. Upon opening it, I realized this was an item I had never been through before! Most of the papers had to do with my great great grandfather, John Hamilton Mitchell, Sr.'s homestead in Tumtum, Washington.

Years ago, I had written off to the National Archives for his homestead application packet, so most of the information in this envelope was already familiar. However, there was a very heavy weight, large piece of paper in this envelope that had an official raised seal. Upon opening it, I was surprised to see it was the original certificate issued to John in 1906! It's in great shape and now in a home that will insure it's longevity.

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Wordless Wednesday - Momma & Her Five Little Duckies

Dora Canal, Florida

This reminded me of the song, "Five Little Ducks." I sure hope Momma keeps an eye on her five little duckies when they go out to play or one may not come back. Those are gator infested waters!

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Madness Monday - Note to Self on a Bakery Picture

One of the great things about having your own blog is that you can write anything you want. Including a note to yourself - a kind of bulletin board if you will. Over 10 years ago, I found this picture in my great grandmother's (Eugenie Roos) postcard album. Only somewhere along the way, I forgot just where I had seen this picture. After going through boxes and boxes and coming up empty handed, I finally gave up. Maybe I dreamed it or something. Well, it resurfaced when I was working on the postcard album rescue project!

Now for the back-story. Great Grandfather Eugene Roos was the proprietor of the Cheney Bakery in Cheney, Washington in the late 1800's and the first part of the 20th century. Before that he was a baker in Los Angeles. I don't know when or how he became a baker but he may have learned the trade as a young man in St. Louis, Missouri.

The family lore is that he owned a bakery on what is now some very prime real estate in downtown Los Angeles. Had he remained there, we would all be rich because the land became so valuable. OK, there's one small problem with this story. Had Eugene remained in Los Angeles, my grandfather would never have met my grandmother....and none of us would be around talking about it. Nevertheless, I've always been curious about where this bakery might have been located as well as where Eugene learned the baker's trade. This picture could be a clue.

Transcription:

1887

Paul Schilling

Building

Here is the old
saloon. You had a
room hear, when you were
working in the bakery. Part
of the building on one side has
been taken down.
[check mark in circle] was your room if I am
not mistaken.

First, I must remember that the photo was found in his wife, Eugenie's, album. So for all I know the note on the back could have been addressed to her. At any rate I've got a little to do list for when I get around to investigating.

Note to Self:

• Analyze the photograph for possible clues.
• Investigate the Paul Schilling Building - 1887 - possibly in LA or St. Louis.
• Handwriting comparison to try and determine who wrote this note.
• Keep an eye open for references to this building in any of Eugene's papers.

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Wordless Wednesday - A National Geographic Moment

Osprey, Lake Eustis, Florida

I always wanted to be a nature photographer. You know, the guy who gets the photo of the bear catching the salmon jumping right into it's mouth.On this day I finally had my chance!

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Festival of Postcards - Locomotion

The theme for the 9th Edition of the Festival of Postcards is Locomotion. I found this postcard of the old San Francisco ferry, "Berkeley" in my great grandmother's postcard album.

I've spent a good deal of my life riding ferries and living by their rhythm. For those who live or work on an island or area serviced by a ferry you know life revolves around their comings and goings just as our daily routines revolve around the rising and setting of the sun. Some things never change...

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Sorting Saturday – Postcard Album

Collecting postcards seems to be a timeless hobby. My great grandmother saved cards sent to her and purchased them in her travels. My grandparents and parents saved postcards and I can’t resist doing it. It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s a postcard received or purchased from another part of the world or down the street, people can’t resist the urge to save those cards with interesting pictures or artwork. I found it interesting that in the NGS Exhibitor's Hall this past April, the busiest booth on my first pass through the hall, was one with boxes and boxes of vintage postcards. This week’s selection from the Archival Closet was my grandmother’s postcard album which I am told is one of several she had that were ultimately distributed among family members.

Being that the album is nearly 100 years old, it’s not in the best of shape, and it’s not the most wonderful place to safely store those vintage postcards, I decided to disassemble the album and place the postcards into clear pages designed for photographs of the same size as postcards. One great thing about this set up is that the backside of the postcard can be viewed and read without having to remove the postcard to do so. The other advantage is that these clear pages have the exact same layout as the original album allowing me to preserve the original order of the collection. Eventually I may opt for storing them in a card file type box but for now while I know the postcards will be handled, read, and transcribed this seems like the best situation.

This week’s mini project from archival closet was a simple and pleasant one; and a nice reprieve from the massive and daunting challenge that waits.


© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Treasure Chest Thursday - Backpacking Anyone?

This backpack belonged to my grandfather who would have used it early in the 20th century.  All I have to say is - we've come a long way baby. This thing isn't exactly comfortable!

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Wordless Wednesday

Mesa, AZ

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Sorting Saturday - The Archival Closet

A while back The Family Curator did some spring cleaning which I joined in on. One day I did some preliminary work on the Archival Closet. This is what it looked like:

I'm not going to show you all of the other boxes scattered around or the piles on the guest bed...

I've finally started sorting through some of these boxes. Folks, this is going to get ugly, very ugly. There's a lot of boxes and a lot of stuff in those boxes. For the first box I tried to pick one that would be easy (and it also was only partially full so I sort of cheated). It was a mixture of photos of various sizes, negatives, travel brocures, estate papers of my great grandfather's, and the list goes on.

I've set up several boxes, one for larger photos, another for smaller photos and negatives, a manuscript box, and one for stuff that doesn't really seem to go anywhere. I've got dividers with the surnames pertinent to Dad's side of the family which is who all these boxes go with.

I have to do this in short bursts because I become overwhelmed really fast. It takes a lot to overwhelm me! I'll update you along the way...

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

COG, 96th Edition, Scrapbook Your Family History! Is Out

There were 17 fabulous submissions to this month's Carnival of Genealogy. You can read them here.

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Wordless Wednesday

Boulder, Colorado

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum

Madness Monday - Do You Know What Kind of Flowers These Are?

A family member received these as a gift. We've had an army of people say they don't know what these are? Can anyone help?

© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum