What's Clutter and What's Keepsake?

I am not a packrat, I am an archivist!

While the time between Christmas and New Year's Day is often spent with family and friends, it is also a good occasion to sort through family memorabilia. Those cards the kids made for your birthday, the ticket stubs from a rock concert and great-aunt Betsy’s wedding certificate — what is worth keeping, and what should be thrown away? What is clutter, and what is keepsake?

The answer is probably as individual as every person, says Dr. James Conrad, university archivist at the James G. Gee Library, Texas A&M University-Commerce.

"If something stirs the soul, or captures important events, chances are the item holds meaning and importance for you. If it’s potentially useful but has no other meaning, or evokes bad memories, there may a strong case to discard it," Conrad says.

There is also the family history to be considered. While a document or photograph may not be important to you, it may be an item of historical interest to others in the family or community, or for those yet unborn generations. It could be the last remaining record of traditions, stories, hardships, successes and precious moments.

"Too often later generations lament the lost documents and photographs that their parents, and grandparents, failed to preserve," Conrad says.

You can read a lot more about this topic in an article in the Paris (Texas) News.