~A Place Where Memories Never Fade~
These are my treasures, and I love them all…they fill my home with mirth.
—George E. Davenport
Filled with delicate treasures and cherished objects of sentiment, the ladies keepsake box often contains her most priceless and endearing possessions. From a favored book of poetry with flowers pressed between its leaves, to a silken ribbon from a long ago trousseau, and cherished photographs in dainty silver frames, the box overflows with favored keepsakes and precious tokens of remembrance that wraps one in the warmth of fond old memories, and bridges every measure of distance or time.
Among her most valuable belongings, a collection of handwritten letters from distant friends and loved ones often serve as a woman’s most dear and beloved treasures. Overflowing with sweet missives and heartfelt expressions of affection, these precious epistles grow more dear with every passing day and often contain sentiments too precious to be forgotten.
To care for her handwritten letters, a letter opener is always used to gently open the envelope and to keep the contents in excellent repair. After the letter has been read and savored, it is always slipped neatly inside its envelope and then carefully tucked away with her most cherished keepsakes and sentimental trifles.
Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person. Having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.
—Dinah Maria Murlock Craick, 1866
