Who'll Buy My Childhood Memories- Why we keep our childhood memories
As I write this, there is a vintage Camp Mishawaka shield and feather plaque for sale on Ebay for $675. We’ve been watching it, as it’s been there awhile. I see now there is another listed for $900! I suggested to someone (jokingly) that if it sells for that price, maybe we should raid the collection of vintage plaques that we have lying around and list some for sale ourselves! Over the years, we have found a few gems online, things that collectors have picked up at estate sales or discovered in the attic: one of a kind pennants, photo albums, and once, we even reunited a plaque to its original owner who had no idea how it ever left his house! Just this week we acquired the wonderful photo book kept by Warren Tingley (He and his brother, Egbert, were campers from 1929-1937 and the namesake of Tingley Cabin in Belding.) from a collector.
I’d love to know just how this photo book travelled from Oak Park, IL, to Seattle, WA, into the seller’s hands. The photos tell a great story, and the book includes many that I have never seen before, including one of very few pictures of Auntie Green (founder Doc Green’s wife) I know of. The book is very well preserved for being almost 100 years old, and as I leafed through it, the care with which it was assembled was obvious. Someone had taken very good care of this item for a long time.
Warren’s brother Egbert’s obituary from 2012 lists Camp Mishawaka as fostering his love for nature and considerable outdoor skills. It’s a story I often hear, and in hindsight, the influence that Mishawaka had on the accomplishments of this generation of campers seems almost pre-ordained. But we also know that nothing is ever that simple. Along the way, Mr. Tingley preserved this book and these memories for as long as he was able. I can imagine his children or grandchildren finding it among his things, not able to keep it, but also not able to just throw it away. It tells a story too good to end up in a landfill.
We’ve likely all had some experience with this. As my siblings and I sifted through the boxes and boxes of photos our parents retained, we paused often. Why did they keep this or that picture or matchbook? What should we do with these memories? We probably kept more than we should have, and our own children will likely face the same dilemma as they sort our stuff, albeit, much of it will be digital and take up less space or not offer the tactile experience of having to leaf through it!
A quick search of why people hold on to stuff yields a variety of reasons, but one line in an article in Psychology Today stood out. The author suggested that many people keep items from their childhood if for no other reason than to prove they, in fact, had a childhood! There are plenty of things to remind us we are adults, right? Campers today may not preserve elaborate photo books, but I’d like to think that there will be an appreciation of Mishawaka for preserving childhood itself. Those memories last forever and don’t cost $900!
