Legacies Through the Generations
My mother’s house in a small village in upstate New York was passed on to her from four previous generations who had resided or vacationed there since 1823. I summered there as a child, as did my own children, and it was an ordinary fact that certain drawers in bureaus, desks and closets were filled with other people’s possessions – people who lived more than a century ago.
After my mother’s death, my brother and I were forced to empty the house and make decisions about the disposition of the many familiar and not so familiar things we found. I’ve lived with many of them for decades, and continue to pass on these legacies to members of the younger generations: children and grand children who seem interested, curious, and elated to own and care for these small manifestations of past life times of their forebears.
These collages connect the original owners with the present recipients and the generational paths traveled by these possessions.
