Disasters can happen to anyone and any where. I was reminded about this fact when a personal historian Catherine McCrum offered her devastated community to help with them their photographs that had been ruined in a tornado in her community. It was a great offer to help people through their pain of loosing it all. In the spring I always hear about flooding all around the country. This past week there have been floods in Oklahoma and a few weeks ago the flooding happened in Memphis. There has been devastation from earthquake and the one thing they all have in common is peoples memories are destroyed. So keeping your keepsakes safe is not option, it is becoming a necessity. It does not matter if you have insurance since it will replace your valuables but memories and memorabilia can not be replaced at any price.
I saw a news clip where a young family’s home was destroyed by a tornado and they were in tears and we saying that all the video of their kids were lost. Their kids first steps, video when their kids were born and video of their kids first day at school. Precious videos all recorded and lost except in their memories.
Here is an exercise that may help your family if a disaster strikes your home. So I have two questions that you need to ask yourself to check if you are prepared for disaster.
- What would I run into my burning house to save? Make a list of those items and where they are.
- If I have a day to pack my belongings, what are the things I would pack and take with me? Make a list of those items and where they are.
I am sure some of your mementos and family keepsakes would be part of that 24 hours to pack list. Having created the lists above and knowing where those items are will make the collection of them items easier to gather and some maybe moved to the burning house answer list. Things you might consider on your list: items that can never be replaced (photos, videos, any family cookbooks, family memoirs and heirlooms that have been handed down to you.)
You may want to create a photo book of all your heirlooms with photographs and stories with the history of each item. On the Antique’s Road Show they call it provenance. The history of an item may help increase its monetary value and I think it can also increase its intrinsic value. The more information in your story the better it will be for the recipient.
You may want to make copies of your photos and put them on a disc, make copies and make sure people all over the country have it. By spreading the copies out, if something happens at your home then you can call and have a duplicate made to replace the one you lost. You might want to keep things in a saftey deposit box if there is not way of copying it. Some people have said you might want to store your photos and cans of important documents with an online company. I think that is a great idea but I would still make copies for the relatives since I am not sure these companies will be around in 10 years or even 20 years. All I have to say is Enron, big companies to big to fail that where today and gone tomorrow. I just want you to be safe rather than sorry.
Antiques will have to be insured and you can try to replace them That is why you may want to take photographs of those memorabilia items so that you can always look back at the items you lost. I really don’t think you want those items stored storage locker but in your home. The photos may be all your have but that is better than nothing.
When I write personal history books, I always give the client five copies of their book so that they can send them to relatives far away so someone has the copy no matter what happens. I wish I keep bad things from happening to you but they happen to me to. When I 12 years old our house had a fire. We never had a lot of things worth saving but the experience left an emotional scare that I know that no matter- bad things follow good people. It has been said,”it is better to be safe than sorry.” And that means your important documents, family photos, family films and videos or anything your family holds a value.
