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November 05, 2005

Exploring my past in an old cardboard box

With John in Georgia, I thought I'd do some things here at home that I don't seem to have time for when he is here.

I have had an old cardboard box stuffed full of pictures and papers since my mom died in 1986. She had it before me. I recently realized that I ought to start scanning and saving those pictures before they are lost forever, so I sat down and started going through them all.

There are pictures of my sister and I when we were little, pictures of Mom when she was little, and pictures of other relatives, too.

I also found First Communion Holy Cards going back to 1904. For those of you who are not Catholic, I should probably explain about that tradition.

When a child makes his or her First Holy Communion, it was traditional for each child to give out Holy Cards to all the other children making their First Communion. Assorted relatives, nuns and priests would also present children with Holy Cards for other occasions, like winning a spelling bee, etc.

Anyway, these are absolutely incredibly beautiful cards - pierced paper, gilt, some in German (my grandmother's maiden name was Mangold - I think her parents might have been immigrants - don't know for sure.)

Now, I need to figure out what to do with them. I think they would look lovely matted and framed - matted on a dark background to bring out the pierced paper.

Any suggestions?

Posted by Beth at November 5, 2005 07:04 PM