Museum curators will discuss best practices for taking care of keepsakes and heirlooms at Thursday evening program.
Kylie Thomson, curatorial specialist at the Fredericksburg Area Museum, was with her grandfather one day, going through his things, when she found a box of old postcards.
They were from the 1940s and depicted different scenes and tourist attractions in Italy. Interspersed among them were photos of her grandfather as a young man in front of the Coliseum and other historic sites.
“He said, ‘I have no use for those. Why don’t you take them?’” Thomson recalled.
For her, the postcard collection is significant not just because it’s historic, but because of the story it tells about her grandfather—how he used his leave during World War II not to visit home, but to visit Italy multiple times, where he ate his fill of ravioli and befriended a Catholic priest who served as his tour guide.
“I wanted to do my best by them,” Thomson said.
Most of us have an object or objects like this, that are precious to us and that we want to preserve, from old family letters to a wedding dress worn just this year. Thomson will share what she’s learned about how to do this at a program titled “At-Home Archivists” this Thursday, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., at FAM.
“Here at the museum, we care about not just this collection but about all the objects in the community,” Thomson said. “Everything is important to someone.”
Thomson will discuss how to properly store newspapers, photographs, textiles, books, and ephemera so these objects won’t deteriorate over time, as well as how to safely store them if so desired.
“There are safe ways to display things,” she said, though it’s true that “a lot of objects like the dark.”
Thomson will devote half of the program to answering questions, and community members are welcome to bring objects they have specific questions about.
“Every object is different,” Thomson said.
She’ll also talk about what not to do with treasured artifacts. “Basements are bad, attics are bad, plastic bins are bad,” she said.
This is the first official “At-Home Archivists” program.
“But this is something I do every day,” Thomson said. “People will come to us and say, ‘I have this document—what do I do with it?’”
“And people have some really cool things,” she continued.
Tickets to “At-Home Archivists” are $5 each and available at the FAM website.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
