Kathy's Corner » 5 Tips for Handling and Preserving the Physical “Stuff”

Kathy builds on her “8 Steps to Take You from Tubs of Photos to Tales of Yore,” to look at how to handle the meaningful “stuff”—memorabilia, keepsakes, ephemera, and trinkets—in our lives.

Aug 22, 2024

This post was originally shared as an embed in the recording of Kathy’s Corner in August. I’m sharing it now with all members as a reminder of our next meeting on September 26th when Kathy will focus on how to research and add details about places to your photo collection. (How about that, just in time for our All About That Place series! 😉)

Keepsakes come in all shapes and sizes. Photo: Kathy Stone, All Rights Reserved.

Let’s Talk About Stuff

In “8 Steps to Take You from Tubs of Photos to Tales of Yore,” I gave my eight steps to organizing and preserving photos, negatives, slides, and home movies. Now it is time to talk about the “stuff”—memorabilia, keepsakes, ephemera, and trinkets—all the things that aren’t photos we have inherited or collected. In the age of downsizing, smaller homes, and people looking for simpler lives through “decluttering,” these items can be the hardest to deal with.

Kathy's Corner » 8 Steps to Take You from Tubs of Photos to Tales of Yore

Kathy Stone

November 9, 2023

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Going Through Stuff

Let’s examine the similarities and differences between memorabilia, keepsakes, ephemera, and trinkets. All hold personal or historical significance, yet each serves a distinct purpose.

Memorabilia

Take memorabilia, for instance—these are objects collected for their connection to a particular event, person, or period, often with historical or cultural importance. Think of autographed sports gear or concert tickets, military records and medals, and mementos that capture a moment.

Keepsakes

Keepsakes, on the other hand, are cherished for sentimental reasons. They serve as reminders of special people, places, or events, like a locket from a loved one or a vacation souvenir.

Ephemera

Meanwhile, ephemera consists of items originally intended for short-term use, such as old letters or postcards, preserved to provide a snapshot of a specific moment.

Trinkets

Lastly, trinkets are small, often inexpensive objects that may lack deep meaning but are valued for their aesthetic or whimsical appeal—like my Pet Rock from the 1970’s, for example.

Here are 5 tips to help you sort and preserve those things that aren’t photos.

1. Gather and sort items into “Keep” and “Don’t Keep”

What items do you want to keep? These items may be in any of the categories mentioned above. What you keep is based on many things - connection, sentiment, history, value, whimsy or storage space.

It is harder to decide what NOT to keep, so consider the same three criteria that we used for photos:

What things do people need to HAVE (such as jewelry, war medals, for example),
What do people need to SEE (such as birth certificates, children’s drawings that are fragile and of little economic value),
What do people need to KNOW about (such as cultural items, and awards).

Remember that when deciding what to keep or not keep, you can preserve the memories of items without keeping the actual items.

2. Tell the Stories

Tell stories about any items that are important to you, whether you keep them or not. What is it? Where did it come from? Who owned it? How old is it? Why is it important?

For items you keep, this passes on the information about the object and why it is in your possession.

3. Photograph the Items

Documents, artwork, letters, etc., can be scanned or photographed on a flatbed scanner. High-speed document scanners are very helpful for non-fragile documents. Photographing 3D physical items preserves them. This is a must for items you are not keeping but also a good idea for the items you are keeping.

You will still have photos and stories if a disaster destroys the items. To photograph items, keep the following in mind:

Remove distracting items—you want to focus on a single item;
Use a camera or a phone – with the camera capabilities of today’s phones, they are fine for this purpose;
Use a tripod or other support for the camera or phone – this avoids blurry photos;
Make sure the object is well-lit and avoid glare -to help with lighting and glare, you can purchase various-sized lighting boxes (ShotBox);
Once photographed, the stories and information can be added to the photo description.

4. Preserve items you keep

You can display the items you keep or safely store them. If you are displaying items, shadow boxes, frames, and stands are all options. Display items away from rapid variations in temperature, potential water damage, and direct sunlight. UV glass is available to protect framed items.

You can also store your items. I recommend using archival storage containers rather than cardboard boxes or non-archival plastic containers.

5. Dispose of the items you aren’t keeping

After you have photographed and told the story of the items you aren’t keeping, you have many options beyond throwing them away. Also, considering these options may help you decide what things you don’t need to keep—the story and photo may be enough.

First, consider asking friends and family if they would like the items. As a bonus, they now have the story that made it such a treasure.
If the item is of historical significance, check with public archives, museums, or the place of origin of the object.
If the item has value (to someone), such as vintage or collector’s items (even “kitsch”), you may be able to sell them. It's a bit of work, but it gives you peace of mind to know the item is being treasured by someone else.
Finally, donate the items to charity so that someone else may find joy in them.

Objects are often the most challenging part of preserving our legacy. They take up more space than photos, are usually one-of-a-kind items, may represent a past period, or hold the memory of a loved one. They are often also the most interesting to share the stories behind them.

Pace yourself

Like sorting photos, this task does not need to be done all at once. Start with one object, follow these tips, and you will be motivated to examine other memorabilia, keepsakes, ephemera, and trinkets.

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Learn more at Kathy’s Corner

Don’t miss our monthly series of talks with

Kathy Stone

to learn about how a professional handles these challenges as they’ve affected her personal collection. Programs are offered free over Zoom on the fourth Thursday of the month at 3/6 PM PT/ET and 11 PM in London. For more details, see the Projectkin Events Calendar: