A Tangible Connection

I admit it - I am the weird genealogist in my family. I am the record keeper, the collector of my family’s memorabilia. Sometimes receiving odd looks and questions about why I am saving such “trivial” things, I continue to do this knowing that someday each piece will have special meaning and can be added to our family history books with a fresh look at the past and a tangible connection for future generations.

My interest in family history began in a series of what I call interconnected object lessons. My parents had a beautiful home in a deep valley on a street named Valley Place. Our home was placed high on a hill and overlooked the green valley filled with dewy fog and the fragrant smell of mossy rocks and muddy ponds. The old rope hanging from a large tree that we would swing out over the pond from is no longer there and has long since been replaced with much new construction, but my mind’s eye still sees that rope and these are the memories I wish to share with my children.

The reality is every piece in your home has a story, and I've learned the stories repetitively through the practical use of each piece. My father loved toast smothered in mint jelly and my mother would graciously serve it each morning on the same plate, a plate etched with lambs. This set of lamb dishes now holds it’s own story and it’s a story worth sharing with my niece who is now the proud owner of the dishes. As we cleared my parent’s home, the comment “who would want this old stuff?” was made and it brought me to tears remembering all these stories and knowing that many of them would be lost in a dumpster in a matter of hours.

As generations pass and family heirlooms are divided up and passed down to children and grandchildren, the responsibility to preserve these memories falls upon those who remember the stories. The family memorabilia I now have provides the connection needed to make the people in my photos come alive in my scrapbooks. I am so grateful for the time spent with my mother and for her clever method of teaching me about family history through her treasured heirlooms - through her object lessons.

Beth Ervin, CottageArts.net Creative Team Member