Sober find in the Antique Cabinet 🍂

*Trigger Warning for Family*

This post may be upsetting to read, so fair warning.

     Anytime you decide to dig through history, you are bound to find some sobering items. I wasn't sure what I was going to come across in the cabinet, but I wasn't prepared for this. It even threw Mark for a loop & he had to take a few minutes. And to the naked eye and uninformed person, it wouldn't have been a big deal. Some might have just boxed it up to get rid of it or even thrown it away, which is what I was originally going to do until I looked it over.

    This is a wick that is used in oil lanterns and lamps. And as you can see, it contained asbestos. Most everything did at some point. It was considered a "brilliant" construction material. Not only was it cheap and widely available in nature, but it was also Fire Resistant. So naturally, when using a flammable substance like Oil, it's smart to have something that would keep that fire under control. And since Asbestos is very fibrous, it could be woven into just about anything that needed to be fire-resistant.

Photo from Ebay listing of the wick outside the box

    But of course, as most of you know now, asbestos was also very dangerous to use. It is known as the "hidden killer". It is what took my dad's life. So of course, my first instinct was to trash this deadly box, as it did still contain the wick. But then I turned it over to read the side of the box.

    My heart just sank and I couldn't breathe for a minute. Now, while most of you know that my dad had passed from Mesothelioma, what you probably didn't know is that he worked at the factory Tallman-McCluskey, along with his mom (my grandma). They were an asbestos manufacturing factory. Raw asbestos would come into the factory, and they would turn it into all kinds of materials; one of them being this wick. 
    Really it was just a reminder of the reality I currently faced. Here I was processing through my dad's antiques from his cabinet, as he was no longer living, because his life was taken from him by Mesothelioma, a cancer that is caused by asbestos fibers getting trapped in the lungs (fibers that float so lightly in the air that it was used as snow in movies) that he contracted in his life from working many jobs where asbestos was used, including Tallman-McCluskey of whose product I am currently holding in my hand and wouldn't have found if my dad wouldn't have died from being exposed to a product like this. I can hear Alanis Morissette's song "Ironic" playing in my head.
    So instead of throwing it away, I wrapped it up in plastic and placed it inside of a box. As a reminder. Not that I really need one. But with all the companies that are trying to cover up and have been trying to cover up the fact asbestos kills, or trying to hide the fact their products contain asbestos, I want proof. I'm saving the proof. For legal reasons, I can't discuss details of his lawsuits with the companies responsible, but we are still fighting with a few because they want proof. Proof asbestos was used and they are responsible. So yeah, after dealing with that, I plan on keeping this. 
    I was doing ok going through Dad's cabinet until I came to that. Like I said, it hit Mark hard and he had to walk away. But we kept on. And we did find some really neat things in Dad's cabinet. See my other post, Exciting Finds in the Antique Cabinet. I really have been waiting to go through this cabinet for many years because it is just so full of history. Good and bad. So I will do my best to preserve everything I can, including the stories behind the items. So when it comes time for me to pass these items down, my child will know and not wonder like I am with my dad. Because these stories need to be shared. And never forgotten.

Miss you Dad...

Exciting Finds in the Antique Cabinet 🍂

     Well, we finally finished going through my Dad's antique cabinet in his basement. I'm happy to report nothing fell about when we opened the doors. But let me tell you, I was scared. As you can see in the photo, it was filled to the brim, ready to just burst out. My daughter likened it to a game of Jenga. 

    I don't know how long Dad had been collecting these pieces, but I do remember as a kid looking at this cabinet dying to go through it. Yes, even as a kid I viewed this as a treasure hunt. So to be able to go through this was something I'd been waiting to do for 30 years or so. I just wish Dad could have been here to go through it with me. I'd asked him multiple times about this cabinet and the significance of the items inside, but he just said, Oh it's just stuff I collected over the years.
    Well, after going through it, I can say some of it is not "just stuff". I found a few interesting and exciting items buried deep in this cabinet that I REALLY wish I could talk to Dad about. And a few items that I was just so happy to find. So I wanted to share a few of these items with you. While they may not be of any monetary value, they have significant value to me.

This is a clipping of a newspaper article sent in by Aunt Patty
George is my grandpa

This little picture appears to be a birthday gift from Clemantine to Anna.

It's possible this was from Great Great Aunt Clemmie Strawhun to my Grandma Ann Fuchs, but that's unconfirmed at the moment. 

This I was most excited to find!

This is my Papa Fuchs taken during WWII in Ventura, California

Coral Court Motel Matchbook

My dad lived at the Coral Court Motel for a time

    Now obviously these are just a couple items out of hundreds of items I looked through. There were a ton of collectible Beer Bottles, some coffee tins, old beer cans, soda bottles, kitchen items, and some other odds and ends. I found a couple things that made me smile, some that made me laugh, but also others that made me sad. It was like opening up a treasure chest of items that my dad considered special. There were some items that I made in school growing up, some gifts from people, and lots of sports memorabilia like posters, scorecards, schedules, etc. I still wish I could have done this with dad, but that's not the case. 

    I don't plan on keeping everything, but I do hope to share items with family if they will have them. I will have to sit down with some of my dad's siblings and ask them about some things. I'm not a huge antique collector so I know nothing about a lot of these. I just know that dad kept a lot of these for a reason. I just wish I knew what that was. 

So have you gone through antiques that belonged to your family? What did you find? What meant the most to you? Let me know in the comments. 

Processing & Cataloging Antiques 🍂

     We are finally onto the next phase in my dad's basement: Processing the antiques in the curio cabinet. Over the last few months, I've been diligently working in his office downstairs to clear out all the clutter, files, trash, and important items. Something that has been desperately needing to be done. for years. We started with the filing cabinets, then moved onto his desk (which had not been used in the early 2000s), then onto the CB desk, and finally the clutter sitting around the desks and office area. One step at a time, things have been removed or trashed. Now, as stated, it's time to process the antiques.

Before

After

    Dad loved collecting antiques. Nothing specific, but just things that meant something to him. This cabinet has been filled to the brim since I was a kid; Top, inside, and under. I asked dad before he passed if there was anything of significant value (family history-wise) in the cabinet and he said no, just stuff he collected over the years. Stuff that was important to him. I know there are a couple of items in there that belonged to me that he didn't want to lose. So there's that. But otherwise, I have no clue what I'm about to run into.

Getting Started

What I'm going to do first is photograph the curio cabinet just as it is. Doors closed and open. Then photograph each area before I start: Top, inside shelves, and underneath. Then we can start carefully removing items, starting at the top and working our way down, and processing each one. We will have a table set up nearby to place items on as we go through.

Process

As each item comes out, I will be decided one of a couple things:

• Keeping for self to be displayed
• Giving to Family 
• Donating either to a historical society or other
• Selling, if I really feel like it's worth my time
• Trashing

This is going to be the hardest part. Making the best decision I can for each item and us. Some items I may keep and decide to get rid of later, and that's ok. I'm going to try to be as objective as I can. 

Once each item has its designation, I pass it on to the next person. If donating, it will get wrapped and put into a banker box. If keeping, I hand it to the cataloging station. Cause if I'm keeping these, I want to know where they are located so I don't have to go digging around. I can't display everything right now, so they will have to be packed up until a later date. I created a catalog in Excel to help keep things organized. Then once the item has been cataloged, it gets wrapped and put into a box. Once that box is full, that catalog gets copied so one copy goes with the box and one stays with me. 

This is a screenshot of the catalog I created. I got the idea from the book How to Archive Family Keepsakes by Denise May Levenick, The Family Curator. I adapted the catalog to suit myself and my needs. I suggest you pick up this book for your own archive.

I am hoping I will get this all processed today, but if not, there is always tomorrow. I've got some help today so that will make things go faster. While I'm excited about going through this curio cabinet, I'm also a bit emotional. I've been dying to go through this since I was a kid. But I also know the only reason I am able to go through it now is that my dad is not here. And it sucks. I wanted to do this with him here, but he didn't want to. So I have to be ok with that. I was preparing myself for this for a while. Now the time has come.

So here we go...

Antique Malls and Fort Leonard Wood Yearbooks 🍂

     Sometimes my hubby and I like to go to Antique Malls on the weekends and just look around. Sometimes we are looking for specific items, but most of the time we are just browsing. One of our favorite Antique Malls we like to visit is the South County Antique Mall off Tesson Ferry in St. Louis, Missouri. They have quite a selection of booths filled with all kinds of different antiques. Some genuine and some... not so genuine. Some treat it like a garage sale to get rid of just random items.
    A few weeks back, we were looking to get out for a bit so we went over there to look around. Mark was on the lookout for some old records and I was looking for a book for the Franklin County Historical Society. So that meant I was browsing through tons of stacks of books. Let me tell you, I never expected to find what I found. In one booth, they had a ton of military memorabilia that caught my attention, so I stopped to look. And what did I find in the back on some shelves? Yearbooks from the U.S. Army Training Center in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri dated during the Vietnam War. *gasp*

    I recognized these books because I had my dad's copy in my office. I couldn't believe it! Who would get rid of these?? And there were quite a few! Some were duplicates. How did this person get these? Well, that how part didn't interest me as much as the "How much are they?" part. Only a few bucks per book. Oh, they are mine now! I just couldn't leave them behind. I didn't know what I was going to do with these yet, but I figured as long as I had them they were safe.
    No, I'm not crazy I promise. I just knew that there had to be some people out there who didn't have these books and would be interested in them. I also knew Yearbooks were a hot item right now in the genealogy community, so I figured I would check to see if these were available anywhere to donate so they could be digitized.
    Well, fast forward to now. I have about 8 books now, including my dad's. I have shared which ones I have in the Missouri Genealogy Group and in the GAA Group as well, offering look-ups for anyone. I had learned that Fort Leonard Wood apparently doesn't have copies of the yearbooks for anyone to look up anymore, so I knew I made the right decision getting these books. I haven't found anything in them that anyone was looking for yet, but you never know.
    I'm hoping to get the pages with people on them uploaded somewhere for others to look through, but I have to research the copyright laws on this first. I don't want to get in trouble. I don't plan on putting up the whole book; just the pages with people. So be on the lookout. 
    Now every time I go to Antique Malls, I am checking every booth for these Yearbooks. I found more in other booths and began to wonder, "why are all these popping up all of a sudden?" Then I remember back to when I visited my dad's grave. The majority of the headstones around him had "Vietnam" written on them, my dad's being one of them. And it occurred to me, that generation is started to pass away. Just like World War II veterans, soon this generation will be no more. And what happens when people pass away? Things get donated, sold, or (even worse) trashed! So I am sure we are going to be finding more and more of these yearbooks popping up.
    The Vietnam War was not like the first three wars. Americans didn't come home to a hero's welcome. Most came home to people who hated them and wanted nothing to do with them. They were treated so differently. Look, I don't care if you agree with the reasons we were at war or the politics of the war, you don't do that to those who risked their lives fighting for those who couldn't fight for themselves. These soldiers came back scarred for life. And then to get rejected by your own country, just makes it worse. The experiences these soldiers went through were nothing like anyone should ever have to face. So it's no surprise if these men didn't talk about their service with their family (my dad barely did). And then it's no surprise that these books end up being gotten rid of. 
    So I've taken on this project. To collect as many yearbooks as I can and upload their pictures for others to find. Because their pictures deserve to be shared. Their names deserve to be remembered. So if you are out and about and you find any of these yearbooks (or any yearbooks for that fact; I found quite a few booths that had high school and college yearbooks), I suggest you pick them up, scan the pages with faces, and names, and add them to a site online somewhere. Or if you don't want the hassle? Send the Fort Leonard Wood Yearbooks to me! I'll take them. Just send me a message through my blog or you can email me at auntiejen82@yahoo.com.

In honor of my Dad and all the others who served in Vietnam, here is a video I put together last year (2020). I compiled interviews I conducted with my dad from times he actually WOULD talk about Vietnam and put them together in a slideshow presentation. Enjoy!

This blog post was posted on The Genealogy Blog Party for celebrating Family History Month.