A handwritten recipe, an envelope overflowing with printed photographs and a shoebox filled with quirky ornaments and dusty sports medals.
Are they sentimental treasures or a cluttered accumulation of junk and “stuff”?
For many of us, we rarely take the time to revisit keepsakes like childhood toys, old band T-shirts or love letters, and yet we find it so hard to part with them because of the memories they evoke.
So how can we bring our personal treasures out of hiding and honour them for what they are — and maybe organise them a touch in the process?
Talk about your treasures
Sophie Jensen is the head curator at the National Museum of Australia and says we need to reframe how we view these treasured objects.
She says our belongings play an important role in maintaining family folklore.
Because of this, Dr Jensen suggests we dust off our keepsakes and heirlooms and give them pride of place around our homes.
“Everyone’s got a little treasure that they hold on to because it has a power and memory to it,” Dr Jensen says.
“But quite often, it’s so precious that they put it in a drawer, or they put it in a box, or they hide it away.
“When you bring these objects out and into your family environment, you start to pass on the family stories around them.”
Dr Jensen says inherited and everyday objects are “living parts” of our family history and that sharing their stories helps connect us with our friends and family.
“They bring people together through the memories, and they become repositories of those moments in a really physical way,” she says.
From handmade blankets to inherited tableware, talking about our personal momentos keeps their meaning alive.
“The moment that you stop talking about that object, you’re loosening the threads between yourself and that object,” Dr Jensen says.
“It only takes one person to lose an object or to pass away, and that object has lost its story.”
Wear your memories
Common things we might hang onto for their sentimental value are clothes and jewellery.
For countless reasons, they remain unworn and out of sight, but Dr Jensen says reusing these wearable treasures can give them new life while still honouring the past.
“When you wear a jacket to the very end of its life, you can still then take the fabric from that jacket and reuse it to patch other clothes,” she says.
“Any if you talk about what you’re doing, it’s not about losing that jacket, it’s about maintaining threads and connections.”
Dr Jensen is also an advocate of repurposing jewellery to create something you’re comfortable wearing.
This allows the memory and significance of that jewellery to grow with it.
“What is the point in keeping it in a box?” Dr Jensen says.
“A really beautiful thing to do is to take those [items] to a jeweller and say, ‘Melt this and make me something so I can carry this jewellery with me’.
“You’re not giving it away, you’re not selling it, but you’re adapting it and incorporating it into your life.”
In ABC’s Tony Armstrong’s Extra-Ordinary Things, Brian Minett tells how he does this by wearing his late father’s signet ring on a chain around his neck.
Brian’s dad was one of 12 firefighters who perished at Cockatoo during Victoria’s 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires.
Miraculously, his dad’s signet ring was found after the fire, and Brian’s mum had it restored for him to wear as a way to connect with his dad.
“[It’s] by my heart, that’s where it stays,” Brian says.
“Every time that I feel it jingling around … I know that he’s with me.”
Hang them on the wall
For other treasures we’ve kept over the years, like recipes, letters, postcards or awards, Dr Jensen suggests framing them as an alternative to buying pieces of art.
“Then when you stand in front of it with your kids, you’re able to talk to that memory … and you can pass it through generations,” she says.
“When you display objects, they take on a very different kind of meaning, and you can see them almost as works of art in themselves.”
If an object is too big to be framed or doesn’t fit with the decor in your home, Dr Jensen suggests being inspired by that object to create something you’d enjoy seeing on your wall.
She says this can work well with handmade gifts that have been lovingly made for you and carry a lot of meaning.
“Take some really detailed close-up photographs of different elements, and use them to create a picture in tones or colours that feel as though they fit [with your style],” Dr Jensen says.
“Then you frame it, and you put it on the wall, and every time you look at that picture, you’re thinking about the person who made it.”
Put them on display
If framing or hanging a selection of your keepsakes isn’t an option, Dr Jensen suggests using your furniture to display your treasures.
“I miss the china cabinet,” Dr Jensen laughs.
“I think every family should have one because they’re embedded into your life and environment.”
Dr Jensen says china cabinets allow trinkets and family treasures to be displayed in a subtle and beautiful way that encourages casual interaction with them.
But if a china cabinet is a step too far, she encourages us to incorporate our treasures when decorating our hall tables, floating shelves and wall units.
Dr Jensen gives the example of choosing to display her late husband’s Italian atomic coffee maker on her mantelpiece.
“It was one of his most treasured objects and it’s a work of art from the point of view of design,” she says.
“But that item, for me, is a lovely reminder of my connection with him but also the smell that I would wake up to in the morning when he would make coffee.
“So it’s not like looking at a photograph. It’s a tangible reminder of a presence in my life, in my family and my home.”
Farewell the clutter
If you’re still not sure what to do with your boxes of memories, Dr Jensen says to give yourself permission to donate or recycle them.
“You can just acknowledge the part that they’ve played in your life, you can appreciate the memories that they’ve given you, and then you can absolutely let them go,” she says.
“Take the memory of what you treasured about them … and the rest of it, in terms of its physicality, can then be gifted to someone that will appreciate and love it.”
And for those of us who find culling keepsakes harder than others, Dr Jensen says to remember that sometimes less is more.
“Things lose that sense of significance or ‘specialness’ when you’ve got oodles of stuff,” she says.
“Being able to really appreciate objects plays into that notion about having fewer items, but allowing those items to say more.”
Watch Tony Armstrong’s Extra-Ordinary Things on Tuesdays at 8pm on ABC TV or stream all episodes anytime on ABC iview.
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