Handmade Neighborhood last weekend was at the Winona History Center. While I was there, I had the pleasure of seeing a particularly interesting segment of one of the historical exhibits:
Are you curious about why it was so interesting? Because my darling mother is one of the community collectors being featured!
Here’s me and my lovely mom at my booth on Saturday. If you came a bit later in the morning, you may have met her. (She was kind enough to bring me lunch, keep me company and watch my table so I could get away for a minute to go visit the other vendors.)
Mom collected coffee mugs since before I can remember. She and Dad would pick them up as souvenirs to remember where they had gone on vacations and trips, and after amassing a few she decided she wanted one from each of the 50 states. Lots of family and friends ended up pitching in to bring her mugs from the states she hadn’t been to herself. Dad built her a rack in the kitchen to display them all, and for years the collection hung on our wall.
My personal favorite was always the one you see in the upper left of the photo below, the one that looks like it’s bent out of shape. It says “I got smashed in Boston.” (I didn’t even understand the double meaning until I grew up; I liked it because it was goofy.)
Mom’s mug exhibit has some really fabulous neighbors.
Just for fun, I did a quick search to find a close-up of my other favorite mug from my mom’s collection. It happens to be for sale on Etsy for just $5! Somebody snatch it up, quick. I can tell you from experience, this mug is good for some laughs when you have company.
After Mom collected mugs from all 50 states, which took about 25 years, she turned her attention to postcards. (I think she was going for a collection that would take up a little less space this time!) She has about two hundred postcards of all different kinds–from different states and countries, some are cute, some are funny, some are vintage, some are just unique. My oldest brother Shaun is a pilot, I’m pretty sure he gets the award for sending Mom postcards from the most locations.
It is so cool to see my very own Mom’s treasures on display at the museum! If you live in the Winona area, be sure to stop in at the Winona History Center to see all the fabulous community collections! You can get more info here.
Tell me, friends, do YOU have any curious collections? Leave a note in the comments!
