ElaineCovid

[QUOTE=Peckish;8607047]I wonder how much of the OP's personal feelings were inserted into her post. It kind of came across as if the husband was uncaring and just wanted all her stuff gone. I wonder if it was actually more along the lines of having all that stuff around was a constant reminder of his incredibly painful loss, and he simply didn't have the bandwidth to deal with it. In general, men are much more lost after losing a spouse than women are, and they also have a tendency to shut down emotionally in order to "be strong"./QUOTE]

The husband - as told to me and several other quilt friends, many times, long before she passed - had absolutely no interest in anything to do with her skill, her quilts, her art. He had no interest that I ever saw either when she was alive . And his actions after her death matched those pre-death comments and observations.

mhollifiel

Quilter (former librarian) weighs in: Let's change our perspective a bit. These 20 volumes WERE valuable. Before you trash them and their contents with a heavy heart, consider the value they have already had to a wonderful, prolific, and very gifted quilter. She compiled them for a reason. No doubt they gave her great satisfaction way beyond the joy of gifting her quilts. Likely she referred to them for reference and inspiration often. They served additionally as a growing, tangible evidence of her "body of work" easily seen by her as she went about her daily life. While she gifted quilts all her life, no quilt was ever really gone from her so long as she had each quilt's complete record within these volumes. These books had a value to her that will never be remotely close to their value to anyone else. These quilt journals will be a burden no matter what you do with them just as they are to you. No one will ever find the purpose and/or joy in these 20 volumes that she did. Just as she is gone, so should these personal records be since it's obvious that no one will ever find the joy in them that she did. One of my graduate professors asked our class how we felt about "weeding" (purging) books from library collections. We were horrified at the thought! Her response: "Books live a long and useful life. Then the time comes when they have finished serving their purpose. They DESERVE a decent burial!"

ibex94

A while ago I toured the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. They were all about accessibility of collections and ideas on all things quilts. They may love to have those binders. It is a chunk of history from a particular time frame regarding quilting and so likely to be recognized for its historical value. https://www.internationalquiltmuseum.org/

Thank you for recognizing the importance of those binders!

bearisgray

Interesting commentary. You are, of course, absolutely correct. Thank you for the viewpoint.

It would be similar to looking at family pictures of people i do not know - even if they are relatives of people I do know.