Out Of Chaos Comes Order

[Kyle Boyd-Robertson]

Ike was on the hunt, the Gulf Coast was the target and it appeared as if we may be the bullseye. With the clock ticking and now under mandatory evacuation orders there was little time for organization, so in a whirlwind of chaos boxes were filled with invaluable historic documents, billheads, photos, postcards, books and letters from a time long forgotten to all but a few.

Seconds, minutes, hours ticked away as we huddled around the television, watching the endless drone of talking heads, hoping for some news of what would become of all we left behind. Finally the news we had all been waiting for, at the last minute Ike decided to veer north and spare us, but not before leaving his share of dishevelment and lessons learned. The Dishevelment? Box upon box of ephemera, which when opened looked more like a mulligan stew. The Lessons Learned? Sometimes out of Chaos comes Order.

Truth be told, it was a project waiting to be undertaken way before the storm, it just needed a little chaos introduced to bring it to light. Surrounded now by mounds of ephemera of every kind and some sixty-five thousand plus vintage postcards I feel as if I am trying to make a mole hill out of a mountain. I think to myself, "This is a task that could easily be left for another day", I then look at the utter destruction just a few miles up the coast and dive back in. You see, this is way beyond me, I feel a since of urgency to protect and safeguard parts of our history that are all to often neglected.

Thanks to fellow network member Nancy Macewan I have now made my own "quick trip to Lowe's for large Rubbermaid containers" and while I was there I picked up a vacuum packer and have started vacuum sealing, (a great way to preserve old paper), many items such as irreplaceable books, letters, photos and documents. I am continuing the slow process of archiving my entire collection to computer so if ,God forbid, anything does happen to any of it there will still be a copy preserved. I no longer feel I have the luxury to wait, if we don't protect and preserve our history today, it could very well be gone tomorrow.

“When you introduce disorder… the chaos that was present before disappears and there is order,” Sebastian F. Brandt.

Visit My Website: Paper Moon

Visit our online shop Bygone Days Postcards & Ephemera

[Frank DeFreitas]

I agree Kyle. Many times chaos has led to well-needed order around here in the lab. I do like the idea of vacuum packing for water protection. Tom is right, this is a great resource here at TEN.

Also, when last you posted, I took some time to visit your web site and really enjoyed looking at the postcards you have featured there. I never imagined 65,000 of them, however!

[Tom Murphy]

Great post Kyle!

Living in Palm Beach, Florida, it was not too many days ago that the National Hurricane Center had Ike aimed at a direct hit on South Florida. Fortunately for us, it veered south and went into the Gulf - and then the rest is well known history.

Your article has inspired me to do the same.. look at making a little more order out of my own chaos. I'll soon take a trip to Lowe's - what were the specifics of the Rubbermaid you purchased.. and the vacuum sealer?

We all owe a great deal of thanks to Mike Ferugson for starting this network, and allowing us all to share thoughts, ideas.... and vintage paper!

Tom