If I Throw It Away

If I Throw It Away, I'll Need It
by - Richard A. Pence
richardpence@pipeline.com

As every genealogist knows, you can't be too careful when it comes to throwing things away. No piece of paper, book, periodical, pamphlet, program, syllabus, clipping, letter, post card -- whatever -- should be thoughtlessly discarded. You never know when you might need it. I sensed trouble when it turned warm the other day. Every spring the cleaning bug takes a bite of my wife and eventually she reaches my office. This time, when I saw she had the stepladder with her, I knew it was big-time trouble! Over the years I have developed some pretty good defenses to counter these annual spring cleaning rites. One method has been the "high-shelf shuffle." Way up high, beyond her reach, is where I put all the stuff that is beyond verbal justification.

She moved in, quickly got up on the ladder and began calling the roll: "Program for the 1987 NGS Conference?" "I was on the program. It's got my name in it." - Plunk.

"1994 Syllabus?" "There's a great article on finding ancestors in South America." "You don't have any ancestors in South America." "You never know." - Plunk.

"What about this pamphlet on GENEALOGY RESEARCH AT THE INDIANA STATE LIBRARY? It's dated 1986." "That was the last time I was there. During Indy week." - Plunk.

"Summary of Your 1971 Employee Benefit Plan Options?" "I was saving it in case I needed the notebook cover." "For 30 years?" - Plunk.

"Here's a W-2 form for 1984." "So that's where that went." - Plunk.

"What about these two boxes of genealogy magazines and journals?" "There's good stuff in them!" "When was the last time you looked at one?" She had me there. "Well," I stalled, "I just can't throw them away without checking. Someone may need them." "Who?" "Maybe the library?" "Call them. I'll get the number."

Trapped. My only hope was a sympathetic ear. Librarians know about saving things. If I can't keep all this stuff, at least I can find a decent home for it. After pressing a couple of buttons, I got right through to the librarian in the Genealogy Room. "Do you need any back issues of the NGS Quarterly?" I asked. "I've got about 25 years worth." "Spring cleaning?" "Yeah. How did you know?" "Third offer today." "What about the Quarterlies?" "Are you kidding? Not only do we get several offers a week, we're trying to get rid of ours. We have it all on CD-ROM now." "Come to think of it, so do I," I mumbled. I was getting desperate. "You've got to help me. My wife is in my office and she's throwing genealogy stuff away!" "You could do what I do." "What's that?" "Wait until the others are in bed and go out and salvage what you can." "Worth a try, but she'll probably check." "Maybe you could try some of the other libraries near by. You can see what they might need by checking their online catalogs. Or I can give you a list of libraries to call." "Never mind." - Plunk.

"Finding Your Ancestors In the Mississippi State Archives?" - Plunk.

"What about this stack of 'This Month at the Library's Genealogy Room'? There must be 200 of them." "Wait a second, I'll check with the library." - Plunk.

If we can just get through spring without a flat tire, it may work out. By then I'll have most of the stuff I salvaged during the midnight foray back on the high shelves and we'll be able to find the spare in the car trunk. As for next year -- the other day I saw an Office Depot ad for file cabinets with locks on them.

[Richard Pence is retired and up to his eyeballs in his one-name PENCE family study http://www.pipeline.com/~richardpence/ - new window. He thinks he should have gotten the big bedroom when the kids moved out -- not the tiny one he now has to use as a combination office, library, archives, and computer center. His wife, only recently retired, divides her attention between creating a showcase guest room out of the big bedroom and scouting for fresh territory into which she can introduce those huge trash bags.]

As printed in MISSING LINKS: RootsWeb's Genealogy Journal Vol. 6, No. 15, 11 April 2001.
(c) 1996-2001 Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley