Chatty Cathy Doll

year_born: 1959

memory_description: It is a doll her name is Chatty Cathy. She has blond hair and a pink dress, lord only knows what happened to her underwear and socks and shoes. I still have her .
Wish I could find someone to make her talk again.

location: Small town
state_lived_in: Georgia

Granny Comment:

How many of us had Chatty Cathy dolls? How about Thumbelina, Tubsey, Cheerful Tearful, Baby First Step.... the dolls of the late 1950s and early 1960s were the best. I have seen reproduction or new issues of these dolls but nothing beats the originals.

Coppercraft Guild Party Memories

year_born: 1938

memory: Coppercraft Guild. My mother fell in love with this...so did I. I even kept the original catalog and in my handwriting, I had written the original prices of each item in the catalog as they didn't print it. Long before Tupperware, the party plan was alive and well and that is how Mom got tons of Cooppercraft.

location: City
state_lived_in: Minnesota

Memories of a Constance Bannister Doll

year_born: 1947

memory: I was five years old. My father came home from work with a big, heavy box-for me! It opened in three pieces on the livingroom floor. My eyes widened in amazement-it was a beautiful baby doll-I had never seen one like her before. She was made of heavy rubber-with features so sweet and pure-hands just like a baby's-little tiny fingers and littler toes! I bit of hair-all rubber- sat atop her little head. I remember seeing babies faces all over the open box. My mother told me that a lady photographer took pictures of real live babies and then had dolls fashioned from these pictures-how babies smile, move, etc. I was so thrilled and excited to own this, what I later came to be none as, my CONSTANCE BANNISTER DOLL. Her name became Candy--all those years ago.

Candy is still with me-and my grand-daughter loves her, too. My hope is that Candy will be passed on down the line from generation to generation along with that person's own story about my Candy Girl-as I call her. She is a bit the worse for the wear and tear of all these years-I want to have her fingers repaired-if someone knows of a place catering to doll repairs in the Brooklyn NY area? I would be very grateful.

The only regret I have about Candy is that I did not keep the original box she came in! How wonderful that would have been. Yet, the memory of that night over fifty two years ago is as clear as if it happened last night. I would not trade Candy for all the sweets in the world! One last thought-she still cries when you squeeze her little tummy-real hard, now-after all-she isn't that young anymore.....

location: City
state_lived_in: NEW YORK

Childhood Items Become Treasured Memories

year_born: 1961

memory_description: My mom died about 13 years ago. I miss her much.

I have to admit, that long ago, I cared nothing for collectibles, vintage or antiques. Now I have the 1920's IRONS that were thrown in the fireplace to iron clothes, the crocks they used for so many things (including making saurkraut), the cast iron pot belly stove once used to heat a house (I use propane), and some REAL wood furniture (mahogony and early american maple), the depression glass I took for granted all my childhood.

I feel blessed to know all this history and I am honored to have it all in my home.

I have a 17 yr old daughter who doesn't care for any of it...I have to laugh, at her age, I thought all this stuff was goofy too. I hope someday, she will realize all the history and all the workmanship and all the worn beauty these things hold.

I have the Early American Maple table that helped me learn how to walk (I held on to that to pull up). I got to see my own daughter do the same thing years ago....She just had a son, I'm hoping he'll do the same in a few months.

Thank you for letting me share.

location: Small town
state_lived_in: Virginia

A Tragic Story With a Message

This is a story of a rather recent event that involved an antique family bible from 1850.

Tragically, I lost my son in the war in Iraq, and my chaplain spent hours on writing a sermon for the service. Having never been confronted with such a young loss, he chose the story of David and Goliath to describe my son's efforts and bravery.

Weeks later, during a visit, i showed him these two antique family bibles that I had picked up at an estate sale in 1992. Big thick books that they are, he handled them with the utmost care, using a touch as soft as a feather to open the fragile pages.

These bibles had not been opened for ten years, but sat on a shelf.

In his hands, the book opened to a page, and he gasped. I thought it was in appreciation of the book, but instead he speechlessly pointed to the page, and so I looked. It was the story of David and Goliath.

~ tricia langley Proud Marine Mom of LCpl Sean Michael Langley kia 11-07-2004

location: City
state_lived_in: KY

Granny Comment:
When I first received this email, I wept like I have not in years. I felt as if the life had been sucked out of me but later when I went back and re-read it I saw that Tricia's son was reaching out to his mom to let her know that he is okay. Not that this lessens the pain of her loss. The relationship between a mother and her son is very special and he needed her to know that he is safe and unhurt in his new place.

I want to thank Tricia for sharing this with me, with all of us.

Vintage Seaplane Toy

year_born: 1946

memory_description: I remember as a child, my Father was an Electrician and worked for TVA all over the SouthEast. He would bring presents to my Brother and I and one of the presents was a Sea-Plane with pontoons that you wound with a key and it would move as a Sea-Plane trying to takeoff. My parents had a hard time trying to get me out of the bathtub.

I saw one listed on eBay that was close to the design but not just right. Who know's, if I find one my wife may have a hard time getting me out of the bath.

At 60 I'm still a child at heart and I don't plan on ever growing up.

location: Farm
state_lived_in: MI

Family Thanksgiving and Family Cookbook Memories

year_born: 1960

memory_description: Our Thanksgiving family reunions at the Baptist Encampment in Brownwood, Texas in the 1960's. My maternal grandmother was from a Texas pioneer farming family and had 12 brothers and sisters. Each Thanksgiving the great aunts and great uncles and their children and grandchildren would gather from all over Texas and the nation to celebrate, give thanks, and reconnect with each other. We always made the trip from Denver, Colorado.

I remember lots of hugs and kisses, and cousins to play with. Dinner was cooked by the great aunts and my grandmother. Their cooking was so loved by all of the family that they were talked into making a family cookbook to share with current and future generations. To this day, I have an original copy (given to me by my mother)and I have made copies to pass on to my sister and her daughter. I will also have copies ready for my sons' wives when that time comes. It is my most tresured cookbook!

location: City
state_lived_in: Colorado

Granny Comment:
I love the cookbook idea, a friend of ours did the same thing. They collected recipes from everyone in the family, had them bound into book form and gave them away.
I am doing the same for my family and hubby's family There is nothing that expresses love quite like food.

Collectible Presidential Spoons

year_born: 1958

memory_description: My Grandparents gave me the whole set of presidential spoons, just like the one on your site, as a child. I still have them George Washington - John Kennedy

location: Country
state_lived_in: IN

Copper Mug Fountain Drink, Old Time Fountain Drink

year_born: 1938

memory_description: When i was in junior high school grades 7-9 we use to stop at a drug store that had a fountain and they served a drink called a copper mug. It was a copper mug chilled and filled with I believe root beer. Not really sure but it tasted teriffic.

location: City
state_lived_in: wisconsin