A little Box of Treasures

I was recently visiting with my mother and she was trying to clean out things that had belonged to my paternal grandmother. She gave me a couple of boxes to bring home to sort through. The boxes are small and have newspaper articles and a lot of papers with writing on them.

My grandmother was a poet. She was also very frugal and never wasted anything. She also was a keeper of things. It was an interesting afternoon going through the papers.

I found a wrapper for cigarette papers with a birthday greeting written on it,

Some will send cards
With Birthday wishes
I came to visit
And help with the dishes.

Everything she gave had a little verse written on it. I know this is something that came to her and she didn't want to forget.

I found a letter from a little girl written in 1954.

Dear Grandma,

How are you, We are doing okay. We hope to come and visit you soon. I am learning Barbara how to write her abc's. She is writing to you to.

The little girl was me. The letter was still in the envelope. I enjoyed finding it.

There was a list of names. Neighbors and family of my grandparents. At the bottom of the list was written. "Guests in our home for Sunday dinner, August 17, 1923."

There were obituaries of family members and friends.

Poetry,

A lot of pictures and information about Gutherie, Oklahoma and area at the time of the "Land Run".

Pictures, letters and plans for reunions of the Coulter School in Indian Territory.
She was one of the first students to attend this school when it was established in the early 1890's. There was a letter from her teacher, Mr. Coulter, for whom the school was named. There was also a Christmas card from him dated in 1941. He must have been very young when he started teaching in that little one room school.

I could go on about what I found, but what I really found was a good visit with my grandmother and some of the things that she treasured for many years. That is a treasure to me.

I know that I will keep what is in that little box. I will make copies and share but even the little notes written on scrap paper and the back of advertisements are valuable to me.

Will we be able to leave these same things to our grandchildren? Well, maybe, if we put it all on a disc.