Saturday 19 July 2008

PhotoHunter: what is that?

In the roof-space I found this box which appeared to be full of rubbish. I brought it downstairs to get rid of it but had a closer look before doing anything. On inspection it was, in a way, a treasure chest. It yielded some fascinating things.

A pencil drawing of my mother dated 14.8.46 Naples. It's not much of a likeness but it reminds me of the story of how my mother got to Naples in 1946.

Letters from my father while he was on active service during WWII, all having been opened by the censors. This one in particular caught my eye because someone had gone to the trouble of cutting out offending sections.

It's particularly interesting because elsewhere in the letter my father says:

"Now we are in North Africa, our meals consist largely of dates and oranges"
"We are now under canvas in the sand dunes on the edge of the Med. "
"a drive through orange and lemon groves past [cut out piece] (very thrilling to my simple mind)"

So I think I could hazard a guess as to where in the world he might have been. In another letter he assures my mother he wasn't chasing after "dark-eyed Sicilian beauties". Where on earth could that be I wonder? Granted my father's writing was, like any good doctor's, appalling, but it seems to me that the censorship was slightly lacking.

It's going to take some time to go through all the papers, and to decide what to do with them. But isn't it a good thing that I did indeed wonder "what is that?" before putting it into a rubbish bin.


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25 comments:

  1. Oh Boy!! You have a treasure chest there!!
    So many ideas how to display them come to mind.
    Wonderful box of memories :)

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  2. What a great treasure! I would love to go through something like that at my house.

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  3. Awesome! What a GREAT find! Priceless...

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  4. Wow, what a SUPER treasure to have found!!

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  5. When we were going through my grandmother's things I ended up with an oil painting her sister had made; when I took it to be reframed we found another canvas underneath, which was an original ... Picasso!

    Not really. It was an original Aunt Mary, and neither painting was very good, but I framed them both and kept them because of their sentimental value.

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  6. What a great example of what hunting for a blog post can lead too and what a treasure - thanks for sharing it with us too!

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  7. What a treasure to find! It really is a good job you examined those papers.

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  8. Just a treasure you found in this box! The memory of your parents! I imagine your feelings discovering this letter and your mother's draw!

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  9. That is quite a find. That is good that you weren't going too fast and accidentally got rid of them. Great take on the theme.

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  10. wow! that's a treasure! have a great weekend!

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  11. I expected to see a lot of strange item photo's for this week's theme, but I've been pleasantly surprised at the different takes on the theme. This is a very good one.

    Baker

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  12. Oh wow, what a lovely piece of family history! Very cool entry for this week's hunt. ;)
    Happy Hunting. Mine is up here.

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  13. That was a treasure to find! How wonderful for you...

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  14. WOW!

    I know I should have more to say, but WOW!

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  15. How lucky! The little hidden bits of a family history often contain so much more insights than the anecdotes that are embellished upon and passed along until they are threadbare. I wish I could uncover a little stash of goodies like this one, but we've moved so much, and everyone has scattered. I don't think any small pieces are to be found anymore. Anyhow, thanks for sharing!

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  16. In other words: The answer is -- a treasure trove of memories? :)

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  17. Those are treasures, a boxful of memories :)

    Hope you would be able to preserve those, especially the drawing of your mom.

    Have a great weekend!

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  18. Now that's a memorabilia of family treasures you got there...And wow, to think someone did take the trouble to cut out and censor the letter...Imagine thousand and thousand of letters going through this process....

    Nice one!

    Pearl - happy weekend!

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  19. It is only when we grow a bit older that we realize just how important these 'little' memories are. Sometimes I wish my forebears had given a little more thought to preserving things for those that were to follow. All I can do now is make sure that I leave some 'memories' for my children and those that are still to come. A nice article.

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  20. I think you found a real treasure. Fantastic.

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  21. Wonderful find-I used to go to Estate Sales all the time and you never knew what you would find. There were plenty of places where there would be a box just like that out on the curb-maybe I should have picked up a few more of them.

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  22. Oh a. I wish we had kept remembrances from stuff in the attic of my parents' house after my mother had died and my father had gone to an (excellent) nursing home. At the time it did just seem like sunk, but with hindsight......

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  23. oops that should have been junk not sunk!

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  24. hi, A. my comment got lost!

    i was to say that that is a great find. the BIG question - are you going to keep them? especially if they are reminiscence of the past?

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  25. Heya,
    That is an awesome find, I love seeing this like this that are little hidden treasures that people have not seen in years.

    Stuart

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Forethoughts, afterthoughts, any thoughts. Tell me.

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