I found a bunch of stuff to recycle, including old National Geographic maps. I threw away historical documents including a book, in Japanese, from the 1930’s about the nutritive value of mushrooms. I’m sure someone could use them, but at this point I’m overwhelmed with the stuff that I’m NOT throwing away. Lots of books on Buddhism, Japanese history, etc. I even found what appears to be an English-language propaganda piece espousing Japanese-occupied Manchuria.
I also started going through my dad’s records and I found things I never knew about. He never supported the local Japanese gardens in Portland, but I found correspondence between him and Professor Takuma Tono, the designer of the gardens. I just skimmed the letters, but it sounds like he was quite involved in the early part of the design. My mom told me that he got in an argument with the head of the garden society or something, and that sounds like him, telling off some rich lady and then writing off the project completely. This also bodes ill for my plan to join the Multnomah Athletic Club for purposes of personal humor because it’s pretty evident that I’ve inherited his need to yell at rich people.
He did go on to build a small Japanese garden for a rich lady and I have pictures of that. I also have documentation on a magnolia that’s planted in SW Portland. I’m not sure what I should do about that.
I found medical records from when my sister got hit by a car in high school, a speeding “warning” ticket my mom got in the 80’s, records of my mom’s car accident from the early 80’s, his business licenses, his marriage license, and his divorce decree! I found out about his previous marriage when I was in my mid-20’s, and I never knew his previous wife’s name. Now I even know where her parents lived.
Most historical societies will come or send someone to your house to help sort and retain the items of value. Ask for help? What a concept
It takes a lot to go through the things left behind; you need the time to savor and reflect. Give yourself as much as you need. There is no timetable to be met.
It can very emotional to go through your parent’s belongings. What to keep and what not to.
When she passed away last summer, I found things my Mom saved from her mother….little documents that fleshed Gram out to me, as I didn’t know her very well. I’m so glad Mom kept them. Now I’m keeping them to pass to my nieces and nephew. Hopefully they will be glad I kept them too. (one item was a pair of socks still on the knitting needles that my Gram had started during WWII for a British soldier. Also a tiny watercolor of the village in France (where my Grandpa died) done by someone Gram met when she went there to visit my grandfather’s grave after WWII.
Family is so very important; keep what strikes you even if it doesn’t make “sense’.
Books can be donated to the library too. That way, if there is something of value and you just don’t have the time to follow through, at least a worthy organization will benefit.