July 24, 2012

"But What is it Worth?" (and Why You Shouldn't Answer It) The Price of Antiques

As a person in the history field, I hear this question a lot. Sometimes I explain to a tour group that we can't touch anything in the rooms, because most  of the furniture is over 200 years old. Someone, either adult or child, will invariably point to an object and ask "What is it worth?"

"This object gives historians a lot of information about how people lived in the 1700s. This information was not recorded in books and therefore it is of considerable value to historians."

That's not what they want to hear. They will then clarify their question as if I didn't understand, "How much money is it worth?"

I don't know if it is today's economy, but lately historical artifacts seem to be about the money that can be made. Shows like American Pickers, Pawn Stars, American Digger and many others put an emphasis on the price tag of antiques instead of their educational, historical and cultural value. It is an even more grave situation, when people are prompted to loot historic sites, like what happened in Gettysburg two weeks ago.

It's really important for history educators to go over the basics of archeology and the importance of artifacts and antiques to our understanding of history. Tell your listeners the importance of the information gained from archeological sites and how the artifacts collected are not the goal, but a result of archeologists excavating for information. Try to bring the focus off the antiques and artifacts and try to emphasis how important these things are for learning about the past.

It's almost never good to put a monetary value on an antique in front of a crowd. Many people have the notion that antiques are worth huge sums of money, and some are. But, most antiques are pretty modest in price compared to the impression many get from Antiques Roadshow. If you tell your crowd that your dug Civil War Eagle Coat button is only monetarily worth about $6.55, many will be surprised at the low "value" but many more won't have an interest in holding it because it's no longer special in their eyes. Putting a monetary value on these things breaks the connection with the past that each individual can make when touching and passing them around.  

Has anyone else noticed this at events and in museums? If someone asks you about the "value" of something, what do you say?

July 21, 2012

World War II Weekend at Joanna Furnace


WWII Reenactor
Joanna at night.



July 16, 2012





July 13, 2012

"Housekeeping Ain't No Joke"

"Housekeeping ain't no joke" - Hannah from Little Women.

My room is a mess! I can never think straight when my room is so disorganized. There are piles and piles of papers, unfinished projects multiplying like coat hangers and my father is constantly reminding me that my floor has a weight limit in regards to my rather robust book collection. A few times a year I have to have a full purge. The more things I have, the less productive I am. I've always been that way and somehow it still all piles up and collects.

It's no secret that most people acquire more stuff than we can actually enjoy. I know many book lovers who openly admit that they buy more books than they can possibly ever read. Recently, I've been trying to cut down on the books that I have that remain unread. I've put them together on the shelf and have been slowly chipping away at them. I've been much more discretionary on which books are really useful to me right now and been much more honest about how many books I really have room for.

Another big problem spot for me is the clutter caused by unfinished projects. For some reason I always have a long list of projects that I started but quickly lost interest in as time passed. For instance there were dresses I started that I thought I would just love to have but found as time passed, I just wasn't as interested in finishing  or wearing them. I'm still coming to terms with "scraping" projects. I make sure I save parts of the projects that are costly and that I am likely to use in the future and the rest is offered up for the taking.

I no longer feel very bad about this. The materials are normally perfect for someone else's current project and it frees me up for new endeavors. My productivity is still good. I attempt about 20 projects and finish 10. My sister is the exact opposite and works meticulously on one project all year. She makes pretty awesome things out of the pieces of my half-finished projects. I'm really lucky to know a lot of talented people who can make beautiful things out of scraps. I find that if I ever did want to come back to one of these projects, I probably would scrap them anyways as my skills, techniques and ideas would probably have improved. So it's win-win.   

Off to finish cleaning!

July 10, 2012

Photography and Reenactments






Tips for Reenactors:








July 4, 2012

Happy 4th of July: Questions for my Readers





3. What are your top 10 most visited websites?




7. What are your internet pet-peeves?


