Fannish Keepsakes

[penfold_x]

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.

Comments

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I would like to know more about fanzine selling/trading groups; I'm going to need that outlet at some point cosmically soon.

Do you keep these types of items, and if so, how do you organize them?

Some. I had a metric ton of BatB stuff that I went through, and I tossed a lot... and eventually regretted some of that. So I'm no touchstone on what you should or shouldn't keep.

How I organized it: Anything flat or flattish went into a notebook. I got page protectors and slid in photos, articles I couldn't bear to toss, puzzles, cross-stitch patterns, small costume pieces (the logo from a jacket, for example), even small works of art that I took out of the frame (and sometimes the mat as well.) The notebook was treated as and put in the same place as the fanzines for the fandom. That way I had it, it wasn't in the way, it was organized.

Larger things are harder. At the moment, some of my fandoms are in bins - fanzines, notebooks, and the larger items. It's not optimal, but they're *there* if I want them. Thing is, they only go into the bin while I see if I still care enough to keep them at all...

And I'm impressed with your sparsity of canon. Right now my number is four - Klinger, collected that got me into fandom, BBBC reprints, and an extremely fancy collected set that one of the Watson's Tin Box people gave away one night. That's not counting the two versions on my phone, either.

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

I would like to know more about fanzine selling/trading groups

My main outlet for information is the Yahoogroup "Zinelist". Most of the zine producers I know post there regularly, as well as many people who are looking to sell or buy zines. I've had a decent experience using eBay to sell zines (though this was several years ago); I sent an announcement to Zinelist when I listed the auctions, hoping to create as much interest as possible.

I'm still trying to fill holes in my Real Ghostbusters collection, so I periodically contact a few dealers that I don't see routinely at Zinelist: Jim & Melody Rondeau, Catherine Siebert, and Kathy Sands (who used to appear at cons under the dealer name "Tales of the White Hart," but I haven't seen her at either MediaWest or Shore Leave in a year or so). To my knowledge, Kathy doesn't have a website. The last good email I had for her was talwhi@earthlink.net. Catherine doesn't update her website very often, so if I'm particularly anxious to find something, I'll send her a letter with my wishlist. Jim & Melody agent for others who are selling their collections; if you don't want to use Zinelist or eBay, that might be an option (I've never worked with them, but they've been in fandom for yonks, so...).

and eventually regretted some of that.

Ugh, yes, that's a big fear for me.

I got page protectors and slid in photos, articles I couldn't bear to toss, puzzles, cross-stitch patterns, small costume pieces (the logo from a jacket, for example), even small works of art that I took out of the frame (and sometimes the mat as well.)

I like this idea. I have a lot of loose stuff that might work well in this system.

At the moment, some of my fandoms are in bins - fanzines, notebooks, and the larger items. It's not optimal, but they're *there* if I want them. Thing is, they only go into the bin while I see if I still care enough to keep them at all...

Right now, I've got a lot of stuff in boxes in the closet and very disorganized accordion files. It's not conducive to my actually being able to look at the items, and they're also not organized by fandom. I honestly haven't been storing the items with the care that you'd expect if they were really important to me. Bins (organized) would be a nice step up.

[claddagh.livejournal.com]

I don't have the fandom collection, but with kids and living in the townhouse for so long, stuff just had to go. Occasionally, I miss stuff, but it is irreplaceable.

Advice:

1. Keep only what you really want and be prepared to reevaluate this collection. As an alternative, decide how much space you are willing to devote to it.
2. For stuff that you want, but don't want to take up space: digitize. Scanning takes time, so it should be self-limiting.
3. Remember that it is generally the memory attached to the item, rather than the item itself. You don't need the whole thing, when talking about larger items.

[goldiebug.livejournal.com]

Very interesting post and comments; this is one of my issues too. I was able to downsize a bit when I bought my house, even as I was thinking to myself "But now you have an attic and a basement you can fill with more stuff!!" Ack. But the problem there is that I constantly worry about a sudden attic fire or basement flood, so I still don't use them to store really emotionally important items. (I have two closets full of Star Wars & Muppet collectibles, when I should be putting clothes or other things in there! Sigh.) I use notebooks and bins too, sort of, but I have a lot of paper stuff in envelopes and boxes that I should do something better with. Sigh. Good luck on your decluttering and keep those ideas coming, we can all use new ideas for archiving our stuff. Or getting rid of it...

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

even as I was thinking to myself "But now you have an attic and a basement you can fill with more stuff!!"

Hee! Yes, I'm kind of having the same conflict. I'm still living in the same place, but I asked my roommate to move out some months ago, and now have the run of the house, including a very large closet, room to put up at least another bookcase or two, and the whole of the attic. It's tempting to just not make any decisions and focus on organizing and boxing it up properly (with archive boxes, etc). Working against this, however, is my desire to have the house look less 'cluttered;' I have a lot of nick-nacks and whatnots on shelves and table tops that I think I would like to put away, so that my environment will look a bit 'cleaner'. I also realize that some things I have stacked up in files and boxes really are junk that I don't really need, if I think about it.

That's a good point about attic fires--I hadn't really considered it.

[goldiebug.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been meaning to research this--is it okay to store paper products in an insulated and vented but unheated/cooled attic? I've been experimenting with plastic, putting some of my empty collectible boxes up there (they are cardboard and plastic) to see how hot they get. Should I bag the papers before putting them in plastic bins? I used to do that when storing them in a barn, to guard against leaks, but I didn't have the heat issue there. Points to ponder...

[claddagh.livejournal.com]

I would think the heat in the attic would prematurely age paper products. Cool and dry (dehumidifier if necessary) in a basement would be preferable to an attic.

[claddagh.livejournal.com]

That should have read is NOT irreplaceable.

I had stuff that I saved from my Dad. Angela found the spare prayer cards when she was little and was chewing on them and playing with them. At first I was upset, but then I thought, "what am I saving them for?" Dad would have been glad that he was amusing his granddaughter. I have gotten very focused on preserving memories, but a lot less focused on stuff.

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

For stuff that you want, but don't want to take up space: digitize. Scanning takes time, so it should be self-limiting.

I think this might be a good idea for some of my printed materials. I have a number of scripts that are not particularly precious to me, but I am reluctant to toss. With the exception of the autographed materials, they might be better held on my computer than on a shelf.

[claddagh.livejournal.com]

Gets rid of a lot of dust when you dispose of the paper too.

By the way, the material that I need to archive, scan, sort and preserve are photographs/negatives and baby stuff. I have an enormous box of prints and negatives from childhood. I hope to get on it in the new year.