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Refections by Katie Butler Johnson Are you a collector? My husband collected stamps. He’d spend hours pouring over old stamp albums. If he found just the stamp to complete some series, he’d handle it gingerly – clasping it securely with tweezers and viewing it from all angles through his jewelers’ loupe. Then he’d call for me to come admire that stamp and celebrate his find. I loved his passion for and pride in his collection. I never shared his enthusiasm for the hobby, but I was grateful that hobby was stamps and not blondes! When my eyes reached the diorama representing the Both he and that collection are gone now. The auction 1950’s, I saw a mannequin sporting the same sea- company that liquidated his collection advertised it as foam green net full length strapless number I’d worn “world class.” I wish he’d lived to see that validation in 1954! How serendipitous! I just happened upon an in print. exhibit that chose MY dress to represent the 1950’s! I I’m not sure just when an accumulation becomes a stood there wide-eyed and wondered: could it possibly “collection.” Then there is that increase in interest, be the very same dress? scope and value that morphs a “collection” into a Museums welcome donors’ “COLLECTIONS.” What “COLLECTION!” happens to other “collections” – the ones that are not Museums are great for those of us who enjoy viewing particularly valuable but beloved by their collectors? collections but have neither the need nor the discipline What happens when the collector’s time runs out? Will to build one. his treasured collection become another’s burden? I love finding familiar objects in some museum’s My friend Yvonne hit the nail on the head when she historical collection. There are two times I was told me of a friend with several collections but just surprised by that find: first in McKinney at the Collin one child. That friend told her child – “There’s good County Farm Museum and again at the Panhandle- news and bad news. The good news is that one day all Plains Historical Museum in the West Texas town of these will be yours; the bad news is one day all these Canyon. will be yours.” When I was a Cub Scout den mother in the late 1980’s, I think the best thing to collect is good memories. I took my den on a field trip to the Collin County They are instant replays of good times and positive Farm Museum in McKinney. There was an object in experiences. They don’t take up space, need to be their antique kitchen display that stumped the staff. insured or have to be dusted. We can share them and They hadn’t a clue what it was. I knew immediately keep them at the same time! Once shared - they may – a stovetop potato baker! It was a staple in Mom’s even live on as oral history. kitchen. She used it to bake potatoes on a burner so as They say it’s not what you accumulate in life that not to heat the oven. matters; it’s what you scatter. So I’m scattering my Then in the mid 1990’s, I was at the Panhandle-Plains memories. Who knows . . . some might even become Museum viewing a retrospective of formal attire. part of my family’s lore. ■ page 34 | www.celebrationmagazine.com