Meeting:  Thursday, May 31, 7 p.m.
43 Elm St. museum meeting room

 

Historians, curators, archivists and various other obsessed people are fond of telling everybody “never throw anything away,” with the implied or articulated “until we can take a look at it!”

 

These history nuts quake and quiver when they hear somebody’s “cleaning out” a house because usually the first things to get thrown in the dumpster or burned are paper items. Why? Because, first, they appear to have no obvious value, like grandpa’s gold coins do; second, they are time-consuming to sort out and often boring to read; and third they might contain something private or even embarrassing. So out they go, never mind that each generation back in that family saw a reason to save them.

Butler-Clear Fork Valley Historical Museum curator Peggy Mershon will be explaining why such things really are valuable, interesting and more revealing about local history than family secrets in the next program on Thursday, May 31, starting at 7 p.m. in the 43 Elm St. museum meeting room.

She will be illustrating the talk with items from the museum’s archives, such as letters, diaries, day books, ledgers, postcards, scrapbooks, hand-written genealogies, bills, receipts, documents, clippings, business records, recipes, stories, certificates, school souvenirs and even a poem or two. 

 

She will also discuss options for families in order to pass such items on to future generations, either their own or others, and how to preserve, restore and reproduce what you have.

Those attending are invited to bring any family papers they’d like to talk about or ask questions about.

The meeting is free and open to the public with entrance off the rear parking lot. Refreshments will follow the program.