I’ve collected Barbie Dolls for my Daughter, who is now grown up, and a minimalist! They are still in the attic waiting on someone that wants them. She told me at Christmas, the only thing she wants out of my house is my handwritten recipes 🥰! I’ve collected Amberina Glassware that I still have, it’s for the taking if anyone wants it. I have collected Vaseline Glass, and that was the most expensive collection. But I gave it away to someone who would enjoy it♥️ I have learned in my life that things are things, and money doesn’t buy your health or mental wellbeing! Love you!
My mother's sewing basket, and the buttons in it, is one of my most treasured possessions. When I was a child, I used to dump all the buttons out on the floor and rummage them around. I loved the colors, textures, and shapes. Thank you for this lovely trip down memory lane, Janisse. P.S.: I collect miniature boxes. My mother loved them, too.
Books, shells, and yes, I too have a button collection. I have metal Band-Aid tins (remember those?) filled with loose buttons. When I need a button for a repair I dump them out on the table and sort through them. I still have the buttons from my father’s US Navy wool pea coat, the pink buttons from my mother’s housecoat, and so many more. I also have a biscuit tin full of buttons my mother bought but never used. The buttons are still on the cards. These passing through my hands are the memories of a couple of lifetimes. I wonder what my son will do with all those buttons? Hope he ends up with someone who sews!
I also have a box of buttons and I sew. I am lucky enough to live in a community that highly values reduce/reuse/recycle as well as freely sharing things and skills between community members. I also collect/read/use books. The most I've paid for a book was $300 for an out of print edition of something for my husband.
Ah, the button basket. I have a small box of buttons that used to be larger but I once decided to make a lampshade by using a cheap one that came with the lamp and covering it with glued-on buttons. They came mostly from the extra buttons that used to come on sweaters and jackets and such.
My mother's sewing room assuredly still has a VERY large stash of buttons. And thread. And omg the fabric. There's literally a bedroom full (not the closet - the ROOM) of pieces of fabric left over from decades of sewing. We've been looking into where we can donate (and found a school that teaches sewing skills so people can get work as seamstresses). Boxes of partially used thread. And thimbles. She collected thimbles, so not all the useful kind but collections upon collections of ceramic thimbles displayed on special display racks all over the house. I'm not sure even the sewing school will take those.
My nieces recently decided they wanted to sew, so they have started organizing the upstairs sewing room (the basement one is bigger but in her later years mom couldn't get up and down the stairs so she moved the machines upstairs). They recently recycled 17 years worth of sewing magazines.
And that doesn't even start to count things like all the salt and pepper shakers. Her parents collected them, but there's were all cheap crap they bought in their travels. My aunt couldn't bear to give them away and tried to foist them on us, but seriously, most of them were hideous. And who uses them anymore when salt and pepper come in little mills from the store? My mom's are nicer...but still, seriously, so many!
When I downsized into the small house, I let go of many things including hundreds of books (donated, and I did find someone who wanted the complete collection of Nancy Drew books I had gotten monthly through some subscription as a kid). I don't know what I really "collect" now. I had to creatively give away a lot of stone beads when I quit making jewelry, but I found other folks that wanted them. I also gave away a lot of rocks in the downsizing (seriously, when you start packing and you realize more boxes will be filled with rocks than anything else....well...). Oh, and in the old big house I had 50+ house plants and had to get rid of all but 2. That was sad!
I don't know if I've ever seen a truly "weird" collection tbh.
And I swear this is the last comment - it never dawned on me before now that everyone didn't have a box of extra buttons and a mending basket! I always just assumed everyone did!
And - my mom always wanted me to collect something so she'd know what to give me for gifts! She kept giving me Winnie the Pooh stuff because I had liked it as a kid until I begged her to stop. At one point I picked out a dish and flatware pattern so she could just give me pieces for every birthday and holiday until I had enough. So technically I guess that's a collection, but that was in the 90s and I'm still using those!
That makes me a little sad, no joke. "So she'd know what to give me." First of all, we have such a material culture that we feel obligated to give material gifts.
Forgot - my mom's parents collected plates. The kind that depicted the place on them and they hung the on the wall. Another thing we didn't know what to do with after they died. My dad's mom collected angel figurines and because she always called her granddaughters her "baby angels", we split them up after she died. It was a small collection but two of them still sit on my mantel.
I'm certain none of them were expensive but they were loved. Most are very old, carefully collected. My grandmother was frugal to a fault. We found so many things that were "too nice to wear" still in the boxes they were gifted to her. Living through the depression definitely shaped her.
I collect books and art. I have a barn studio filled with found objects from nature and also human cast-aways: everything from pine cones, interesting twigs and branches (sometimes I paint them), birds nests fallen out of trees, paper wasp nests, dead bees, shells. I love old rusty metal of all types: twisted wires, bottle caps especially flattened by cars, old beads from other countries hand made, rejected pieces of jewelry, and yes buttons. Many of these things I glue on to boxes or picture frames. Mostly I intend to glue these found objects onto something. Repurposing, becoming art.
I remember well my mother's button box, an old large cookie tin filled with beautiful buttons made of metal or bone, not plastic. After she died, I asked my sisters if I could have this treasure, they agreed, and sent me what they found in her closet: a new metal container filled with new plastic buttons....she had "upgraded" and given the vintage buttons away!!!!!!
I can't think of a weird collection but I once wrote a story about a man in Louisiana who had collected, identified, and pinned in specimen boxes, 2000 species of moths he had found in the part of the state where he lived. It was beautiful and astonishing.
Just this past December I became re-acquainted with CBS correspondent, Roger Welsch because he was one of the individuals that CBS recognized for his passing during 2022. Welsch once hosted a segment on "CBS Sunday Morning" called "Postcard From Nebraska". I had all but forgotten about that feature and Welsch until learning of his recent death.
I did an internet search and was pleasantly surprised to learn that he had been a prolific writer. One of his works had an intriguing title, "Forty Acres and a Fool" I ordered the book through inter library loan and now I'm in the midst of reading it.
Welsch's book relates to his purchase of some land in rural Nebraska and his fascination with acquiring old building and re-locating them to his property. Old houses, tool sheds, a barn, a smoke house, and 3 (yes 3 outhouses) were all moved to their new home. Welsch referred to these outhouses as the "Taj Mahal" of outhouses. A photo of him standing in front of one, graces the inside corner of the dust jacket of the book. These structures designed and built by the WPA during the Depression in Nebraska are called "Eleanors", in reference to Eleanor Roosevelt. I suppose if someone owns more than one Eleanor, they are a collector.
This post triggered memories of my grandmother's button collection so I just texted my uncle to ask him if he still has her sewing basket. She died last year at 96 from COVID in a nursing home. And then that made me remember that I have a button collection. It's small but I love them. I don't know if I ever really thought I was an active collector of buttons but I keep the extras that come with clothes that I buy and I've been known to take the buttons off of clothes I throw away or donate if I specifically like the buttons. When my mom was growing up very poor in rural FL her mother would always take the buttons off of the few store bought clothes they had and re-sew them on because she thought they were done shoddy by machines.
I used to have a massive Gone with the Wind collection of dolls, plates, books, etc. I started it back in the 80s. But I sold most of it in 2009-2010 when I finally got a house big enough to put it all in because I realized it just wasn't important to me anymore and GWTW had a different meaning to me as an adult than a middle-schooler. I gave the dolls to my niece ot actually take out of the box and play with and kept a few of the books only including the one I paid $400 for by working many hours of overtime at the K-mart.
My husband and I recently moved to the panhandle of FL and downsized from a 3800 sq ft home to 1800 sq ft. The only thing of size I continue to collect is books. Because we are renting most of them are in boxes in the storage room until we figure out a more permanent place for them. I've got a collection of young adult historical "romances" I read in middle school that I treasure. I also have a few boxes of trashy adult historical romances I love from the classic authors like Bertrice Small, Virginia Henley, Kathleen Woodiwiss, etc.
I also have small collections of refrigerator magnets (they don't take up a lot of space), patches from places we travel to that I sew onto a backpack, and tiny erasers shaped like animals, fruit, etc. Don't ask me why I have those but some go WAY back.
At 67 I can't think of anything that I collect. There are things that I still have, but no collections. I always hated dusting all the things so I never collected them. What I have I use. When I stop using it, out it goes to bless someone else's life. If I need it in the future, I trust God will provide.
What a timely commentary. I'm in the process of winnowing through decades of accumulations. About an hour ago I came across a 1982 birthday card from my Grandmother Nellie. She had re-purposed a birthday card by crossing out "friend" and inserting "Grandson" on the cover of the card. One of the things that endeared me to my grandmother was that you always knew where your stood with her and she would refer to me as "Grandson Greg", Judy, my wife, as "Wife Judy" and my favorite of all "Soninlaw" (one word) Bob, for my father,
My grandmother was one of the most resourceful and versatile persons I've ever met. Her last occupation was a seamstress for a firm that fulfilled contracts for the auto industry in the suburbs of Detroit. Grandmother created convertible tops during the 1950s through the 1960s. Although she was skilled at extending the life of a garment and furniture, she was not a hoarder. With the approach of warm weather she was motivated to engage in "spring cleaning" and items that were no longer useful were carried to the curb.
With a 3 bedroom home and 32 X 28 foot garage groaning from the burden of possessions, I need to summon the spirit of my grandmother and launch into spring cleaning 10 weeks early What do I collect.? A more fitting question would be, "What don't I collect"? I have hundreds of books, arrowheads, minerals, magazines that are decades old, plants that I've propagated from seed, cuttings and grafting, more garden tools than I'll ever wear out, and a enough shirts, jeans and overalls to last me for the next 20 years.
Thought provoking, I am in the over collector category but I agree that the best part of collecting is the hunt. I had a picture in my head of blue or red old plates swirling on my wall and set out to look for some at 'antique' shops. Looking was the fun part, I made the design but have since moved on and use the dishes now. I especially like a small ridge edged pattern with a reddish design. My refrigerator is covered in magnets, mostly places I've been and some that other people sent me. I appreciate their thought in adding to my collection but it leaves me less room for mine (lol). I have tiny pitchers that my great grandmother collected. (I like to collect small pottery vases.) I have postcards, letters, and other paper goods from my childhood. I have coins and stamps. I have bookcases full of books. I have a beer bottle collection and a brewery coaster collection. I have dolls my grandmother sent me after her trip around the world. I did have a brief period, years ago when I bought moorcroft pottery on ebay for over $100. It was exciting to win the 'auction' and then unwrap the prize, luckily I overcame that addiction. Sometimes I feel the heaviness of having too much stuff and wonder how I will ever sort through the 'collections' to pare them down. (What is the line between collecting and hoarding?) Lots to think about on this one!
Both my dad and my father-in-law, born in rural Georgia and rural Minnesota around 1920, collected stamps. My dad’s aunt was the postmistress in our town and helped him get stamps from far away places. As adults they both collected first day cover stamps - we inherited many albums, all worthless now I think.
A friend here collects only postcards from Georgia towns that no longer exist. That idea sounds valuable to me.
Still pondering what do I collect? I used to collect a china pattern so I could serve my big family on special occasions. That time seems to have passed and as soon as I can figure out how to catalogue it and how to do ebay I will move it on.
I’ve collected Barbie Dolls for my Daughter, who is now grown up, and a minimalist! They are still in the attic waiting on someone that wants them. She told me at Christmas, the only thing she wants out of my house is my handwritten recipes 🥰! I’ve collected Amberina Glassware that I still have, it’s for the taking if anyone wants it. I have collected Vaseline Glass, and that was the most expensive collection. But I gave it away to someone who would enjoy it♥️ I have learned in my life that things are things, and money doesn’t buy your health or mental wellbeing! Love you!
My mother's sewing basket, and the buttons in it, is one of my most treasured possessions. When I was a child, I used to dump all the buttons out on the floor and rummage them around. I loved the colors, textures, and shapes. Thank you for this lovely trip down memory lane, Janisse. P.S.: I collect miniature boxes. My mother loved them, too.
Books, shells, and yes, I too have a button collection. I have metal Band-Aid tins (remember those?) filled with loose buttons. When I need a button for a repair I dump them out on the table and sort through them. I still have the buttons from my father’s US Navy wool pea coat, the pink buttons from my mother’s housecoat, and so many more. I also have a biscuit tin full of buttons my mother bought but never used. The buttons are still on the cards. These passing through my hands are the memories of a couple of lifetimes. I wonder what my son will do with all those buttons? Hope he ends up with someone who sews!
I have 1 of those metal Band-Aid tins. It's a treat to use.
I also have a box of buttons and I sew. I am lucky enough to live in a community that highly values reduce/reuse/recycle as well as freely sharing things and skills between community members. I also collect/read/use books. The most I've paid for a book was $300 for an out of print edition of something for my husband.
Ah, the button basket. I have a small box of buttons that used to be larger but I once decided to make a lampshade by using a cheap one that came with the lamp and covering it with glued-on buttons. They came mostly from the extra buttons that used to come on sweaters and jackets and such.
My mother's sewing room assuredly still has a VERY large stash of buttons. And thread. And omg the fabric. There's literally a bedroom full (not the closet - the ROOM) of pieces of fabric left over from decades of sewing. We've been looking into where we can donate (and found a school that teaches sewing skills so people can get work as seamstresses). Boxes of partially used thread. And thimbles. She collected thimbles, so not all the useful kind but collections upon collections of ceramic thimbles displayed on special display racks all over the house. I'm not sure even the sewing school will take those.
My nieces recently decided they wanted to sew, so they have started organizing the upstairs sewing room (the basement one is bigger but in her later years mom couldn't get up and down the stairs so she moved the machines upstairs). They recently recycled 17 years worth of sewing magazines.
And that doesn't even start to count things like all the salt and pepper shakers. Her parents collected them, but there's were all cheap crap they bought in their travels. My aunt couldn't bear to give them away and tried to foist them on us, but seriously, most of them were hideous. And who uses them anymore when salt and pepper come in little mills from the store? My mom's are nicer...but still, seriously, so many!
When I downsized into the small house, I let go of many things including hundreds of books (donated, and I did find someone who wanted the complete collection of Nancy Drew books I had gotten monthly through some subscription as a kid). I don't know what I really "collect" now. I had to creatively give away a lot of stone beads when I quit making jewelry, but I found other folks that wanted them. I also gave away a lot of rocks in the downsizing (seriously, when you start packing and you realize more boxes will be filled with rocks than anything else....well...). Oh, and in the old big house I had 50+ house plants and had to get rid of all but 2. That was sad!
I don't know if I've ever seen a truly "weird" collection tbh.
Karen, your mom's sewing collections are truly impressive.
And I swear this is the last comment - it never dawned on me before now that everyone didn't have a box of extra buttons and a mending basket! I always just assumed everyone did!
And - my mom always wanted me to collect something so she'd know what to give me for gifts! She kept giving me Winnie the Pooh stuff because I had liked it as a kid until I begged her to stop. At one point I picked out a dish and flatware pattern so she could just give me pieces for every birthday and holiday until I had enough. So technically I guess that's a collection, but that was in the 90s and I'm still using those!
That makes me a little sad, no joke. "So she'd know what to give me." First of all, we have such a material culture that we feel obligated to give material gifts.
Forgot - my mom's parents collected plates. The kind that depicted the place on them and they hung the on the wall. Another thing we didn't know what to do with after they died. My dad's mom collected angel figurines and because she always called her granddaughters her "baby angels", we split them up after she died. It was a small collection but two of them still sit on my mantel.
Oooh. I forgot about the angels. I know someone who collects those. They're not cheap!
I'm certain none of them were expensive but they were loved. Most are very old, carefully collected. My grandmother was frugal to a fault. We found so many things that were "too nice to wear" still in the boxes they were gifted to her. Living through the depression definitely shaped her.
I collect books and art. I have a barn studio filled with found objects from nature and also human cast-aways: everything from pine cones, interesting twigs and branches (sometimes I paint them), birds nests fallen out of trees, paper wasp nests, dead bees, shells. I love old rusty metal of all types: twisted wires, bottle caps especially flattened by cars, old beads from other countries hand made, rejected pieces of jewelry, and yes buttons. Many of these things I glue on to boxes or picture frames. Mostly I intend to glue these found objects onto something. Repurposing, becoming art.
I remember well my mother's button box, an old large cookie tin filled with beautiful buttons made of metal or bone, not plastic. After she died, I asked my sisters if I could have this treasure, they agreed, and sent me what they found in her closet: a new metal container filled with new plastic buttons....she had "upgraded" and given the vintage buttons away!!!!!!
I can't think of a weird collection but I once wrote a story about a man in Louisiana who had collected, identified, and pinned in specimen boxes, 2000 species of moths he had found in the part of the state where he lived. It was beautiful and astonishing.
Those moths!
Just this past December I became re-acquainted with CBS correspondent, Roger Welsch because he was one of the individuals that CBS recognized for his passing during 2022. Welsch once hosted a segment on "CBS Sunday Morning" called "Postcard From Nebraska". I had all but forgotten about that feature and Welsch until learning of his recent death.
I did an internet search and was pleasantly surprised to learn that he had been a prolific writer. One of his works had an intriguing title, "Forty Acres and a Fool" I ordered the book through inter library loan and now I'm in the midst of reading it.
Welsch's book relates to his purchase of some land in rural Nebraska and his fascination with acquiring old building and re-locating them to his property. Old houses, tool sheds, a barn, a smoke house, and 3 (yes 3 outhouses) were all moved to their new home. Welsch referred to these outhouses as the "Taj Mahal" of outhouses. A photo of him standing in front of one, graces the inside corner of the dust jacket of the book. These structures designed and built by the WPA during the Depression in Nebraska are called "Eleanors", in reference to Eleanor Roosevelt. I suppose if someone owns more than one Eleanor, they are a collector.
This post triggered memories of my grandmother's button collection so I just texted my uncle to ask him if he still has her sewing basket. She died last year at 96 from COVID in a nursing home. And then that made me remember that I have a button collection. It's small but I love them. I don't know if I ever really thought I was an active collector of buttons but I keep the extras that come with clothes that I buy and I've been known to take the buttons off of clothes I throw away or donate if I specifically like the buttons. When my mom was growing up very poor in rural FL her mother would always take the buttons off of the few store bought clothes they had and re-sew them on because she thought they were done shoddy by machines.
I used to have a massive Gone with the Wind collection of dolls, plates, books, etc. I started it back in the 80s. But I sold most of it in 2009-2010 when I finally got a house big enough to put it all in because I realized it just wasn't important to me anymore and GWTW had a different meaning to me as an adult than a middle-schooler. I gave the dolls to my niece ot actually take out of the box and play with and kept a few of the books only including the one I paid $400 for by working many hours of overtime at the K-mart.
My husband and I recently moved to the panhandle of FL and downsized from a 3800 sq ft home to 1800 sq ft. The only thing of size I continue to collect is books. Because we are renting most of them are in boxes in the storage room until we figure out a more permanent place for them. I've got a collection of young adult historical "romances" I read in middle school that I treasure. I also have a few boxes of trashy adult historical romances I love from the classic authors like Bertrice Small, Virginia Henley, Kathleen Woodiwiss, etc.
I also have small collections of refrigerator magnets (they don't take up a lot of space), patches from places we travel to that I sew onto a backpack, and tiny erasers shaped like animals, fruit, etc. Don't ask me why I have those but some go WAY back.
Maybe your grandmother's button collection will find a home with you.
I collect feathers. I have a small orange vintage suitcase full of them.
Those amazing old suitcases!
At 67 I can't think of anything that I collect. There are things that I still have, but no collections. I always hated dusting all the things so I never collected them. What I have I use. When I stop using it, out it goes to bless someone else's life. If I need it in the future, I trust God will provide.
What a timely commentary. I'm in the process of winnowing through decades of accumulations. About an hour ago I came across a 1982 birthday card from my Grandmother Nellie. She had re-purposed a birthday card by crossing out "friend" and inserting "Grandson" on the cover of the card. One of the things that endeared me to my grandmother was that you always knew where your stood with her and she would refer to me as "Grandson Greg", Judy, my wife, as "Wife Judy" and my favorite of all "Soninlaw" (one word) Bob, for my father,
My grandmother was one of the most resourceful and versatile persons I've ever met. Her last occupation was a seamstress for a firm that fulfilled contracts for the auto industry in the suburbs of Detroit. Grandmother created convertible tops during the 1950s through the 1960s. Although she was skilled at extending the life of a garment and furniture, she was not a hoarder. With the approach of warm weather she was motivated to engage in "spring cleaning" and items that were no longer useful were carried to the curb.
With a 3 bedroom home and 32 X 28 foot garage groaning from the burden of possessions, I need to summon the spirit of my grandmother and launch into spring cleaning 10 weeks early What do I collect.? A more fitting question would be, "What don't I collect"? I have hundreds of books, arrowheads, minerals, magazines that are decades old, plants that I've propagated from seed, cuttings and grafting, more garden tools than I'll ever wear out, and a enough shirts, jeans and overalls to last me for the next 20 years.
Thought provoking, I am in the over collector category but I agree that the best part of collecting is the hunt. I had a picture in my head of blue or red old plates swirling on my wall and set out to look for some at 'antique' shops. Looking was the fun part, I made the design but have since moved on and use the dishes now. I especially like a small ridge edged pattern with a reddish design. My refrigerator is covered in magnets, mostly places I've been and some that other people sent me. I appreciate their thought in adding to my collection but it leaves me less room for mine (lol). I have tiny pitchers that my great grandmother collected. (I like to collect small pottery vases.) I have postcards, letters, and other paper goods from my childhood. I have coins and stamps. I have bookcases full of books. I have a beer bottle collection and a brewery coaster collection. I have dolls my grandmother sent me after her trip around the world. I did have a brief period, years ago when I bought moorcroft pottery on ebay for over $100. It was exciting to win the 'auction' and then unwrap the prize, luckily I overcame that addiction. Sometimes I feel the heaviness of having too much stuff and wonder how I will ever sort through the 'collections' to pare them down. (What is the line between collecting and hoarding?) Lots to think about on this one!
I used to collect vintage aprons and typewriters. These days, I mostly collect folk art, shells, and feathers.
Both my dad and my father-in-law, born in rural Georgia and rural Minnesota around 1920, collected stamps. My dad’s aunt was the postmistress in our town and helped him get stamps from far away places. As adults they both collected first day cover stamps - we inherited many albums, all worthless now I think.
A friend here collects only postcards from Georgia towns that no longer exist. That idea sounds valuable to me.
Still pondering what do I collect? I used to collect a china pattern so I could serve my big family on special occasions. That time seems to have passed and as soon as I can figure out how to catalogue it and how to do ebay I will move it on.
Thanks for bringing all this up.
I've sent you a photo of the Mary Proctor work, but I haven't been able to put it in here.
This really brings back memories.
There's a jar of buttons on the sewing machine at home.
Many of them were there when I was a
boy.
Like quilt scraps, many have their own stories.