little things

a little blog mostly for my finds of little mementos from people back in time. everything i post is my own work unless otherwise stated. queue posts once a day until it runs out. i will try to transcribe the messages on my post cards but i have trouble reading cursive, i welcome corrections. because of a crowd it seems these kinds of posts are popular with, i will clarify that on this blog we love and support all trans people 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

[muttsys-deactivated20260425]

i want to share this picture my mom took when she was young with you all. because its fucking awesome

on the back "super puppy 1985" is written

[chaosophia218]

A graphic guide to Cemetery Symbolism. To convey the lives of the people buried beneath them, and the expectations for what comes after death, symbolism has long been part of tombstones. Above is a guide to some of the most prevalent cemetery symbols. 

Click on the above pictures to enlargen.

[ordinarylittlerelics]

i promised i had content and i do im just not manic yet so it hasnt made it out of drafts

[ordinarylittlerelics]

it turns out i dont get manic episodes organically so once i got off my meds it never came back lol

i found something endearing at a thrift store im going to post here eventually so i intend to see what kind of mess ive left in my drafts however long ago as well

edit: A YEAR?????

[silvers-coin]

definitely had A Moment at the used book store

[labete-du-gevaudan]

Those of you that have been following this blog for a while know about my visiting of Henry Lawrence. Henry was a boy that died instantaneously from falling off a horse in 1798. He was 8 years, 8 months old at the time of his death. 

Before the pandemic, I would visit Henry several times each year and had been doing so since 2011. However, I visited for the first time since 2020 a few weeks ago. I had been surprised to find that visitors can no longer 1) walk off the path in Old Burying Point Cemetery and 2) leave gifts at the grave sites. I know this is for the preservation of the cemetery but I was still crushed by the news. I used to spend hours sitting by Henry’s grave, talking to him.

A week ago, I posted on a FaceBook group about Salem, asking for any information someone might have about Henry or his family. I thought it was a long shot. But to my surprise, a wonderful person named Lara Fury who runs Black Cat Tours with their husband Daniel. Daniel has written a book called If These Stones Could Speak (you can buy it here if you’re interested) all about the lives and history in Old Burying Point. They’re doing a revised version of the book that will include an edited version of the above photo (with my permission) and a little section about Henry!

Lara shared some incredible information about Henry with me. One of the things that they were able to tell me was the area that Henry was killed from his fall. This location was recorded and I was able to go and leave flowers and a stuffed toy for him there since I was no longer able to leave something at his grave. Mom and I now call this Henry’s Tree. And if you want to visit it, it’s located at the present day corner of North st and Lynde street. His tree is near Murphy Funeral Home.

Lara also shared some other interesting information with me. She was able to tell me where the majority of Henry’s family is buried. His family’s tomb is located in Harmony Grove cemetery and can still be visited. 

Daniel also so generously gave me and my mom a private tour of Old Burying Point Cemetery and a few other interesting places around Salem. It was so wonderful to hear all the stories that he knows about everyone there. 

And it’s even more wonderful to find someone like Lara that loves Henry as much as I do. 

[ashstfu]

other people’s love letters

[thebeautifulcomics]

Here (1989) by Richard mcguire (raw magazine)

[ordinarylittlerelics]

i promised i had content and i do im just not manic yet so it hasnt made it out of drafts

[thamesbeachcomber]

Bereavement letter. ‘In loving memory of a dear Aunt’.

[clubolive]

Bitch I am on the GROUND

[heartsfemme]

my favourite thing about buying books secondhand is finding the things people used as bookmarks in books that they never finished. here’s some of my favourite things that i’ve found!

[cet-abime]

[id: 9 photos of scraps of paper against a white wall. In order, they are: a yellow business card from a bookseller; an illustrated ticket to a castle; the top half of a black and white portrait; a folded newspaper article on T S Eliot; a piece of card with different city crests on them; a patterned bookmark from a bookshop; a love song on folded paper; the first page of book on religion, on blue paper; a pink piece of paper with “please leave this area as you found it” handwritten on it. ] 

[jaubaius]

Found in a 120 year old time capsule.

Full VDO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoDj4mXdqmc

[justanotherweirdarchaeologist]

Worth it.

[enjoloras-deactivated20220821]

So a while back I won a cheap eBay auction listing for a collection of love letters from the first world war.

They arrived today, and…the listing was WAY more than I expected for the price I won it for. There’s over 100, and they’re not just from WWI, but from 1906 (earliest I’ve found so far) through to 1915.

Charlie writes to his girlfriend, Gertrude. This is the most beautiful, lovesick stuff I’ve ever read. He sends her so many letters, sometimes twice a day, and lots of poems. He seems to have been an artist, as he talks a lot about small exhibitions of his stuff, and included a flyer for one. He also talks about how her parents don’t approve of them and how he’s desperately awaiting the day they’ll be married.

I haven’t found the latest of the letters, but the fact it’s up until 1915 and then stops…doesn’t give me hope for a happy ending.

This man continuously refers to his precious beloved Gertie as his queen and goddess, and whilst most of it is sickly sweet, there’s some raunchy stuff too, with him talking about how he can’t wait until they have a little house together and can ‘please each other all day’…

There’s. So many.

I’m going to put them in order by date, read them through, and then maybe even transcribe them so we can find out a bit about Charlie and Gertie’s love story.

[enjoloras-deactivated20220821]

This man was absolutely lost in the sauce

[enjoloras-deactivated20220821]

Y'all he writes about sending her pressed poppies and postcards for her collection 😭😭😭

[enjoloras-deactivated20220821]

111 years after Charlie got his dick touched in 1910, I decided to tell you all about it. Sorry Charlie.

[enjoloras-deactivated20220821]

Some more finds:

And some CODE!!!

Also all this is poems:

[enjoloras-deactivated20220821]

UHHHHH…👀👀👀

[enjoloras-deactivated20220821]

This has a lot of notes so I need everyone to know:

They got married 😭😭😭❤ (thank you to @lovesjustachemical for finding this!!!)

[nico-nico-knee]

Kinda fucked up that you just stole somebody’s mail

[enjoloras-deactivated20220821]

Don’t know how to explain to you that acquiring, preserving, and transcribing historical ephemera that would have otherwise just been trashed from people who have been dead for over 50 years and don’t appear to have any living descendants isn’t the same as ‘stealing someone’s mail’ but Tumblr never ceases to amaze me with it’s cold takes.

[dame-de-pique]

George Barker - The Diamond Pass, Oklawaha River, Fla. 1886

[churchrummagesale]

a forgotten home off the highway

[ordinarylittlerelics]

postmarked april 22, 1938

Hello Vada

I’m well and hope your the same. Well hows the world treating you? Hows your parents? Well I ???? you would know who’s writing of all the people? I’m sorry I didn’t think of writing you.

Its your friend

Ann Koham (?)

Say hello to Helen & your mom, and dad.

The station is only 15 min ride from my place.

I can’t wait till I get home for the summer. C???se my writing.

this seems to be the daughter of the chas./charles sivits of two of my other postcards! she was only 18 at the time of this post card and not yet married. found her grave here and heres the fascinating part - i bought these postcards in florida, but i found out the day of writing this that she is buried in the same cemetery as my grandparents in pennsylvania! the one i mentioned before that has the old church, the one where i took the pictures of the old gravestones like 10 years ago! so maybe next time i go, i will look for her!

[floridensis]

my mom found a beautiful collection of antique bird illustrations at a thrift store for $1

its dated 1915, but as it says in the introduction, these are reprints of plates that had already been made. i went through the whole book in search of this and it was there - the passenger pigeon. i am unsure when the plate was initially created, but most likely before they went extinct, since the last one died in 1914, a year before these reprints were issued

as far as i can tell, this is the only extinct bird in the collection. but, if anyone wants to request i scan a bird’s page, let me know!