Friday, September 3, 2010

home again


I am sending off all of the postcards with the holes in them that I wrote about first here and then here.

I wrote the daughter of George Kimber after the last post, finding her university email address. I told her about them and offered to send them back to her family if they wanted them.

Here is part of her response:

Your e-mail comes at a propitious time. When I got to England I discovered that my sister and her husband are actually assembling family material to write up the history of Arthur C. Kimber (my grandfather) and his son Arthur C. Kimber (my uncle who died in action during the last year of the first world war). These postcards would be a great help in producing a time-line of the family’s activities in these years. (We have no idea – yet - why the postcards have holes in them!)


Can you imagine someone emailing you out of the blue and knowing all this stuff about your family, writing about it on the web and having a box full of related postcards to all members of your family! I can't. And yet, I was presenting that to her. How could I not when I saw I could contact her?

As much as I love my vintage photo and postcard collection, I also would gladly give them all away to the rightful owners. I think most collectors would. We appreciate them so much, but also acknowledge that in the wonderfulness of these paper records is sadness that this little history is no longer with the family.

Postcards especially contain in them little everyday moments. Especially in the early part of the twentieth century when they were sent all the time and not just on vacation.

Now, the remainder of the Kimber family can see some of these moments that they have never seen before. This makes me happy and I wish I could see their reaction to opening the box and looking through the postcards the first time.

Wherever they were the last few decades, they will be back with the family soon. Off they go!

9 comments:

  1. My goodness! I remember your posts on this, and the power of Google. And now they go back to the family. hey could verify some of the moving the family did, if there are no other records.

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  2. It's wonderful you've reunited the postcards with their family.

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  3. It is sad that precious photos, cards and even letters are dispersed. What a fine gesture to return it all to the family.

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  4. I was looking through cards at a shop near us and it was obvious some had come from a family collection that had been let go for some reason. It's such a shame.

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  5. Perhaps what goes around will come around - this kind of an act on your part not only makes you feel good, but perhaps makes them appreciate what you've done as more than just an act of charity. Only good can come from something like this!

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  6. Arthur C. Kimber (the father) was my great grandfather. I found your blog through googling. It's news to me that Clarissa and her sister are writing a history, but since I saw this - entirely by chance! - I will contact them to see if they want any material I have.

    Thank you! You not only brought these papers home, you got some distant relatives back in touch.

    Anne Kimber anne_e_kimber@yahoo.com

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  7. Wow, that is wonderful, Anne. Thanks for the comment.

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