I began sorting through some of my old files. Files sounds so much better than piles of junk. I do have folders full of notes, newspaper articles, and bits of information. The majority of them I collected while working on the family tree. It was in there I found a copy of the photograph I posted to a Facebook group I moderate concerning my hometown memories. I say moderate and that's accurate, my intervention in anything going on there is in moderation, like seldom. I've found by not imposing many rules I don't have many to enforce. Now, isn't that easy?
After rediscovering that clipping I thought I should find a better method to preserve it. Like I said I have much of this stuff in folders all over the place. My desk does have a hanging file system and that is pretty much full already. It isn't nearly as organized as it sounds. My thought was I should learn the art of bookbinding. My Grandmother's Uncle holds a patent on a piece of bookbinding equipment. Yes, I have a copy of that patent. I have looked at it and did grasp the idea of it. He didn't get rich off of that though. Great Uncle Albert did alright for himself and I also have a short family history piece he composed. Got that from a cousin of mine and I'm forever grateful for that, thanks Linda. That should be bound into a book as well, a bit of history preserved, a bit of serendipity.
I had originally thought of book binding because of my blogs. I have had one book of them printed. You have most likely seen those advertisements for that. I believe I used Shared Book for mine. The cost is substantial and that's why I haven't done it again. Oh this online stuff is fantastic and the promise is that whatever is on the web is on the web forever. I know I can find my blog postings from ten years ago so I'm guessing that they will remain longer than that. Perhaps if I were more tech savvy it would be easier to find them, now it is more by happenstance than a plan. Someone should invent a card catalogue for the internet! I was told that Great Grandmother Lucy was an avid collector of history and family ties. She was in a group of ladies that researched families as a hobby. One of those ladies was Jeannette Edwards Rattray. That lady wrote several books on Long Island history and in particular East Hampton, N.Y. Her family ran the local paper and as far as I know still do. The East Hampton Star whose motto is " shines for all " has been that local publication since 1885. A great deal of my family heritage has been recorded in those pages. Shoot, I have even made a few submissions that were printed.
Like most people I do look for excuses to not start this endeavor. It begins with I need this or that and I can't afford it. Truth is, the ancient people bound books with sheepskin and little else. Thing is, I don't have any sheep. Seriously though I have read a bit about how to bind a book and it is a far more complicated process than it first appears to be. My present excuse for not starting this is I don't have a proper printer. I do need to begin with having the manuscript to bind. Well at least a test manuscript to practice on. I also don't have a good work space. See, I can find all sorts of reasons. But I keep thinking about it anyway. I do believe a bound book is less likely to be discarded than files full of papers. I was told that Great Grandmother Lucy had baskets full of clippings and notes that were all discarded after her passing. Those items had lain untouched for twenty years or more. When it came time to clean out the house, into the trash bin! I don't want that to happen to my stuff.
Yes I could just pay a company to print and bind this book. Like a number of things I hesitate to spend money on a vanity project. Stuff like that is for the wealthy. And yes this would be a vanity thing. I like to think of it as doing a service for future generations but is it really? Well only if someone in the future should take an interest in my thoughts and memories I suppose. So for now I'll put it off until I get the printer I want. I'm wanting those tank style printers that don't require ink cartridges. The advertisement claims they will print hundreds of pages for a few dollars worth of ink. That sounds better than what I have now. These ink cartridges don't last very long, and even buying the remanufactured ones at discounted prices isn't cheap. Anyway, it's a good excuse. I still have all those photographs to organize and do something with. Well I have good intentions anyway that should count for something. You know the internet is great for long term storage. Still there is something far more personal about holding a book in your hands. I'm thinking it would be even more so if you knew who bound that book! I even have document that bound my third great grandfather Caleb Terry to a man that was to teach him the art of cordwinder. Yes, he was a bound man, his father received 25 dollars for allowing that, and he received training and a small stipend every month. Oh, a cordwinder is what we would call today a shoemaker. Yes, he became a shoemaker among other things. Perhaps that document should be the foreword to my personally bound, complied and authored book. That document does deserve preservation. All our memories do for all memories are reference material, a library of the past, helpful to the future if we just remember and record.
After rediscovering that clipping I thought I should find a better method to preserve it. Like I said I have much of this stuff in folders all over the place. My desk does have a hanging file system and that is pretty much full already. It isn't nearly as organized as it sounds. My thought was I should learn the art of bookbinding. My Grandmother's Uncle holds a patent on a piece of bookbinding equipment. Yes, I have a copy of that patent. I have looked at it and did grasp the idea of it. He didn't get rich off of that though. Great Uncle Albert did alright for himself and I also have a short family history piece he composed. Got that from a cousin of mine and I'm forever grateful for that, thanks Linda. That should be bound into a book as well, a bit of history preserved, a bit of serendipity.
I had originally thought of book binding because of my blogs. I have had one book of them printed. You have most likely seen those advertisements for that. I believe I used Shared Book for mine. The cost is substantial and that's why I haven't done it again. Oh this online stuff is fantastic and the promise is that whatever is on the web is on the web forever. I know I can find my blog postings from ten years ago so I'm guessing that they will remain longer than that. Perhaps if I were more tech savvy it would be easier to find them, now it is more by happenstance than a plan. Someone should invent a card catalogue for the internet! I was told that Great Grandmother Lucy was an avid collector of history and family ties. She was in a group of ladies that researched families as a hobby. One of those ladies was Jeannette Edwards Rattray. That lady wrote several books on Long Island history and in particular East Hampton, N.Y. Her family ran the local paper and as far as I know still do. The East Hampton Star whose motto is " shines for all " has been that local publication since 1885. A great deal of my family heritage has been recorded in those pages. Shoot, I have even made a few submissions that were printed.
Like most people I do look for excuses to not start this endeavor. It begins with I need this or that and I can't afford it. Truth is, the ancient people bound books with sheepskin and little else. Thing is, I don't have any sheep. Seriously though I have read a bit about how to bind a book and it is a far more complicated process than it first appears to be. My present excuse for not starting this is I don't have a proper printer. I do need to begin with having the manuscript to bind. Well at least a test manuscript to practice on. I also don't have a good work space. See, I can find all sorts of reasons. But I keep thinking about it anyway. I do believe a bound book is less likely to be discarded than files full of papers. I was told that Great Grandmother Lucy had baskets full of clippings and notes that were all discarded after her passing. Those items had lain untouched for twenty years or more. When it came time to clean out the house, into the trash bin! I don't want that to happen to my stuff.
Yes I could just pay a company to print and bind this book. Like a number of things I hesitate to spend money on a vanity project. Stuff like that is for the wealthy. And yes this would be a vanity thing. I like to think of it as doing a service for future generations but is it really? Well only if someone in the future should take an interest in my thoughts and memories I suppose. So for now I'll put it off until I get the printer I want. I'm wanting those tank style printers that don't require ink cartridges. The advertisement claims they will print hundreds of pages for a few dollars worth of ink. That sounds better than what I have now. These ink cartridges don't last very long, and even buying the remanufactured ones at discounted prices isn't cheap. Anyway, it's a good excuse. I still have all those photographs to organize and do something with. Well I have good intentions anyway that should count for something. You know the internet is great for long term storage. Still there is something far more personal about holding a book in your hands. I'm thinking it would be even more so if you knew who bound that book! I even have document that bound my third great grandfather Caleb Terry to a man that was to teach him the art of cordwinder. Yes, he was a bound man, his father received 25 dollars for allowing that, and he received training and a small stipend every month. Oh, a cordwinder is what we would call today a shoemaker. Yes, he became a shoemaker among other things. Perhaps that document should be the foreword to my personally bound, complied and authored book. That document does deserve preservation. All our memories do for all memories are reference material, a library of the past, helpful to the future if we just remember and record.
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