Got through the first pass!

Last night, I finally got through all the boxes at least once, and removed the photos from their bad homes in cardboard, broken frames and manila envelopes to stop deteriation.

I found one my favorite photos of the bunch last night, a photo dated 1962, but I think its a reprint from earlier, of Madge and Oscar. It's a candid, of the two of them together, and I think it was probably taken about the time they married-they're both dressed up, and smiling-it's just a special photo. Madge appears to be wearing an outfit she had as a teacher in Tampa, which was about 1936. It's a really sweet photo-Eric really liked it. I'll try to get it scanned and posted on Monday.

I did find a bit of a mystery in one box. Madge had written out about three generations of the Gibbs family tree on "family information sheets", which contain some neat information about the individuals-like notes on hair and eye color, personality and illnesses and other traits. When organized, we'll actually know quite a bit about the Gibbs side of the family. But, here's the kicker. On each and every sheet, she lists her name as Madge Harriett Gibbs. Anyone know the story behind that--every legal document clearly states Kent as a middle name (which is a wierd name for a woman anyway, and even more so, when I can't find a single Kent in the family trees that are in the boxes). So-there's a mystery for us.

I do have a question for all. Now that I've taken the photos out of the old frames-I've got a paper box full of old photo frames. Two or three of them are in decent shape, and nice looking, but the majority are in poor shape, with some broken glass. Does anyone have a use or desire for these? I thought if no one wants them, I will throw away those frames that are broken or bent. I am throwing away any of the broken glasses-just for safety with Brian and Sabrina around. If someone wanted the frame, they'd have to have a new glass cut anyway to use it, so I think that's best, so I don't end up in the emergency room over old broken glass.

I was excited to find in the last box, three very clearly written generational family trees that go back for at least five-six generations depending upon the branch of the tree. It will certainly be nice, as I can use those as a starting basis, then compare the PILES of notes and snippets in the other boxes to see if we can get one family tree incorporated together. When I say piles-Jim and Sandi can appreciate. I've found old envelopes with notes, a publishers clearing house entry form with notes around every spare inch of space, old receipts with notes on the back-and just an almost overwhelming group of notes that may or may not be related to the research. Based on the work for my family trees-I know that once you hit a certain point, you basically start searching for anyone with the same name, hoping that you can get back to your tree. Much of the Hinkle research done is not related, as best as I can tell. Madge was also meticlous about getting every detail of all the Gibbs cousins-so I don't know how much of that information everyone will want, but that won't be the area I concentrate on first.

So, that's the update for today. More to come. I've got a bunch of fun stuff to share.

Back to the Boxes

After a stressful day at work, it was fun to dig back in the boxes. The two today were quite diverse in their treasures. I did find Jennifer's original crib card from the hospital in 1968-so, Jen, would you like that sent to you, or hold it until I see you in person? I also found several pictures of Jen as a baby, including a fun one of her up to nearly her neck in snow. Your boys will laugh.
For Sami, how about your mother's induction program and certificate into Psi Chi at ISU? Thought the psychologist in the family would enjoy seeing that one--the certificate is very vintage 60's-really kind of cheesy, compared to most honor certificates.
We did find Oscar's HS diploma from 1940, when he apparently completed school at one of those diploma places like you see on the TV channels late at night. I believe it was the "American" school, but I'd have to dig it out again to be certain.
I found a ton of notes from Madge, that may be some Sunday School homework or lesson plans. They are quite complex, in typical Madge fashion.
But, at the end of it all, the floor is a mess---I spent a lot of time simply removing photos from old picture frames covered in tape, rusting nails and broken, chipped glasses. Miraculously, most of the photos were relatively undamaged, but we did find a small stack of negatives, and were disappointed to discover that negatives of Jim in his Wentworth (or maybe Army) uniform were damaged beyond use or repair. I'll take them to Amber to see if she can do anything with them, but it looks like they were exposed to some heat and possibly some water, and they're pretty much destroyed. If the package hadn't been labeled, Eric and I couldn't have told what they were.
We also found Jim and Sandi's wedding invitation, and some nicely detailed Hinkle family history, though some of it is in disagreement with other parts-so it will take some work to figure out which version Madge wrote might be the correct one-if any!
With Board of Trustees meeting tomorrow, I won't get back to it for a few days, but it was great fun, although mighty dirty.

Our $750 cat is stupid

For those not in Kansas last week, Diego (our kitty) spent much of the 4th holiday at the vet, sidelined with a nasty urinary tract blockage. So, $750 later, we now have an insane cat with two wierd shaved stripes on his front paws.

His revenge has been "loving" the boxes of items that arrived last week. I think he must smell Kurt's dog smell on them, because he keeps going up and rubbing them, and chewing the corner of the one closest to the laundry room. Hasn't created any damage, but watch a cat "love" a box, is well-funny.

I did manage to get another one opened last night, but didn't get much chance to go through it. I did find some interesting pictures from the "Cosmopolitan" club. Apparently Madge had a group of friends, that I suspect are from her days at KState. For the time, it was an unusual group, an African-American woman, several folks from India or maybe Pakistan, and a couple with id that indicated some European descent.

Going to do some research-I'll keep you updated.

New Things Arrive

The rest of the documentation and history has arrived in Kansas. The formerly nice clean family room now has a stack again in the corner-but that's ok (except for Diego the cat, who isn't as appreciative of the "dog" smell that must be on the boxes, because he keeps sniffing at them and snerling up his nose at them before he saunters away).

I got the Gibbs/Gilpin photos sorted, and have a huge album (that won't close!) with them sorted out by person. There are enough of some that each of the grandchildren (Jen, Eric, Sami and Kurt) will be able to have an original or excellent copy, where there are only one of some of the others that will need scanned or copied. Still not sure where some fit into the tree, but at least, I know who the heck they are.

I did open one of the new boxes last night, but it didn't have much in it but old genealogy magazines from 1967 and 1968--not sure they'll be very useful, as so much of the info has long since been digitized and can now be found online or through other sources, but I'll put them in a box and try to organize them by date to see if they're useful later on. I'm thinking that they may just end up in the trash unless someone has a hankering for them, but you never know. Grandma Madge did a lot of research on the Hinkles, but it appears that she was searching for lots of related trees in hopes of linking back to our particular branch, but I haven't put enough of it together or not to be certain of that.