Small Treasures

When I used to work at Doon, part of our orientation for school groups was to ask the children "What is a museum?" This would usually elicit answers like, "a bunch of old stuff," "old people's furniture," "old-fashioned things," etc. But as we would explain to the students, a museum is really just a big, well-organized collection. Some people collect rocks, or Pokemon cards, or even old stuff. Everyone likes to collect, and some people are really interested in sharing their collections, which is why we have museums. It was always fun to watch the hands go up in waves (sometimes starting with grinning parent chaperones) when we asked "so who here has a collection?"

I too have a collection. (Well, I have more than one, but that's another story for another day). I mentioned briefly in a previous post that I once bought a big tin of buttons at a garage sale. Actually, it they were in the world's most hideous hatbox, which was long ago consigned to the garbage.

The box was awful, but the buttons are wonderful. I have an eclectic mix of vintage, modern, ugly and beautiful buttons in diverse materials, including plastic (of course!), glass, shell, metal and fabric, in a rainbow of colours.

Many are quite ugly, and will never find a home, but there are just as many beautiful buttons.

Some of my favourites, in neutral colours.

Another view. I love the large shell button with four holes and the curlique border pattern.

I will probably add to this collection myself over the years, maybe winnowing out the less exciting buttons (How many tiny white shirt buttons can one woman need?) and keeping the ones off of clothing that I discard. Having a tin of buttons connects me historically to the anonymous women who have kept buttons in tins and boxes and jars down through the generations.

My grandmother had a button box. And I'm sure that her grandmother, who was a seamstress, had one too. Sometimes these boxes get passed down through a family (my mom had my grandmother's tin now), and sometimes, like my garage sale find, they don't. Nevertheless, collections like these become artifacts that connect us in tangible ways to our collective history.

And as we collect, we add to that history. Aren't we all collectors at heart?