Fannish Keepsakes

I'm in the process of tearing my house apart as I declutter and re-organize in anticipation of hopefully redecorating my house in a style beyond Impoverished Law Student (a subset of the Broke Period). Per usual, I'm having difficulty sorting through two categories of items: mementos of events and media (exactly where my fannish hobbies collide).

Donating or tossing mainstream books and music is fairly easy, now that the internet and the digital revolution have exponentially lowered the cost of storing vast amounts of media and locating replacement hard copies of even out-of-print books and music. Exactly how many copies of the Holmes canon do I need, anyway? (Turns out the answer is three.*) Can I donate those official tie-in novels that I didn't enjoy very much for a recent fandom I'm no longer really into? Absolutely. Fan-created media is a different story. My fanzine collection is the one thing I currently track and organize in excruciating detail. Even with websites and email groups dedicated to selling and trading fanzines, it can be very difficult to replace a zine I toss or sell, so I just shrug and clear another shelf.

My grey area is less categorizable fandom notions. What to do with the boxes I have full of various trinkets: promotional items, key chains, magnets, stickers, patches, odd-sized photos, artwork? Some of them are rare or unusual (for example, a limited promotional item from Comic Con), some are fan-made and represent creativity and effort. Do you keep these types of items, and if so, how do you organize them?


Illustration of dilemma by Jim Hensen

I also need to make some decisions about whether I really want to collect certain items, such as cast photos, specialty magazines (many of which I had to purchase from foreign distributors and contain most of the available photos, information and interviews for pre-internet fandoms), clothing and games. My trouble with these items is that they also tend to cross into the other category that's difficult for me: mementos of events. I purchased the item at a convention, received it from a friend, or otherwise have particular memories (emotions) tied to it. My logic-brain says "This item doesn't need to be displayed in your home;" while my emotion-brain counters "But that's the Hebrew-language Episode One promotional disc gimmelgirl brought from Israel for you!"** I've decided to keep my convention programs: they're a great record of events I attended, the panels I participated in, the guests I saw, and (for MediaWest and Eclecticon) zines published, and blessedly easy to store. Everything else is... throwing a wrench into my plans to have all my items sorted by January 1.

*One copy of Baring-Gould, one copy of Klinger, and one easy-to-read trade paperback.
**Genuine example. Multiply this by scores. I'm currently considering just setting my house on fire.