(no subject)

[alicebentley]

Yow - I haven't posted in quite a while again ...

But this is the perfect place to whine about one of today's tasks: sorting through another couple of cases of The Stars Our Destination flotsam. You see, when we moved out here, there was just So Much paperwork, old (paid) invoices, and documentary records from the shop that I couldn't deal with sorting it all out while handling the rest of the cross country move. So we boxed it up and shipped it out along with all the rest of our stuff.

Now, almost four years later, I'm opening up and sorting through the last 20 or 30 boxes, and ya know, this is even more time consuming and, well, maudlin making than I expected.

And I expected a lot.

I know one path of wisdom would be to just toss out the boxes unopened, but I want to salvage the hanging files and folders, and I want to assure myself that all customer information was properly removed and destroyed. So open every box it is.

The vast majority of the material sorts easily. Catalogs from publishers and suppliers join the piles of paid invoices in the recycling pile. Emptied folders and hanging files go into the empty-for-now file drawer. Cover flats for books are gathered together in hopes that some other shop or reference facility might find them useful (they don't take up much space, and would be prohibitively difficult to acquire again, assuming they are still useful).

The tricky bits are things like all the publisher-supplied author photos that have collected. And the piles of Thank You notes from authors I have hosted over the years. There's the photos we took of those signings at the store. I can't think of good reasons for keeping them, but I find I'm unwilling to just destroy everything.

That's why it was time for an LJ break. And maybe go back to this task tomorrow.

Comments

[smokingpigeon.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do so sympathize. My basement is full of Hawkeye boxes.

I think you're a freakin' heroine.

Missing you at Capricon this year.

[the-leewit.livejournal.com]

I have been surprised by what people would buy on eBay. Also, have you thought about asking zer Netmouse if the SFOHA if they might like these notes?

[the-leewit.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that came off as terribly patronizing--- but if does sort of sound up their alley.

Time to build a digital archive!

[isherempress.livejournal.com]

Clearly you need a scanner, a really big hard drive, and open source software to create a Digital Archive of Chicago SFF 1989 (?) - 2004 (?).

Then again, maybe you don't have that much time on your hands...

I'll bet it is a maudlin task. I don't envy you.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"The tricky bits are things like all the publisher-supplied author photos that have collected. And the piles of Thank You notes from authors I have hosted over the years. There's the photos we took of those signings at the store. I can't think of good reasons for keeping them, but I find I'm unwilling to just destroy everything."

eBay the non-personal stuff?

B