Rinker on Collectibles

RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1806

It's Time to Write My Memoirs

A decade or more ago, I began a list of books and articles I wanted to write after I retired. It is not a short list. It is a dream list of what I can and would like to do but most likely will not do because I will never fully retire. Further, when one project ends, I have a bad habit of agreeing to take on two more new projects.

Recently, I accepted the position of genealogist and registrar for the West Michigan Chapter of the Michigan Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), where I am an associate member, and co-genealogist and co-registrar for the Central Florida Chapter, my primary membership chapter, of the Florida Society of the SAR. I expect to process between 25 and 30 membership applications a year. At the moment, I am spending about 20 hours a week doing genealogical research, squeezing it in between my antiques and collectibles writing and other related commitments.

I promised my wife Linda that when she retired, we would spend time together traveling across the United States and in Europe. At the moment, the bulk of my journeys take me to my home office. It is easy to use the Covid-19 pandemic as the excuse not to travel. I am ready to go when I can find the time, but Linda is very hesitant.

[Author’s Confession: I have misplaced the book and articles list. In my life, things have a bad habit of getting misplaced. They are never lost.

The list is buried somewhere among the piles of materials in my Kentwood, Michigan, office. I spent about a half an hour looking for it, hoping I could find the file folder housing it. I did find multiple research files for the articles, such as one I planned to write on the Robert Wuersch Company, a manufacturer of decorative enamel art tiles and products in the 1960s, and several of the books, one of which will be a detailed history of the Billmeyers, an early Philadelphia publishing firm. I have three archival file boxes filled with period documents relating to the firm.

When Linda and I returned to Kentwood, Michigan, from Altamonte Springs, Florida, in early May, I resolved that “this was the year” when I would organize the piles of paper in my office, save what was important, and get rid of the rest. This did not happen. The piles of paper are higher and larger in number than ever. Linda and I return to Florida for the winter in early October. The Kentwood piles still will be there when we return in May 2022. What was not accomplished this year, will be done then – yeah, right, without question, absolutely!]

There were two one-word titles on the book list – autobiography and memoir. These two words are not synonymous. An autobiography is a factual account of a person’s life written by that person. It is not a complete account because the person writing it still living. It is a full account, usually starting with the person’s birth with some backstory on the parents and family added for effect and ending at the point when the person sends the manuscript to the publisher.

Not all autobiographies are published. Many are written for the sole purpose of providing a life history as a remembrance for family and friends. I met William “Bill” Clayton Yoder in 1966 on a field trip to Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Canal by the New York Canal Society. I lived in Bethlehem, he lived in Nazareth. Bill was in his mid-70s. We were two of the individuals who formed the Pennsylvania Canal Society. Bill had lost his wife and had no children. He was in his 70s, and I was in my mid-20s. We became close friends.

Bill was a self-trained engineer. His first job was with General Electric in Schenectady where he worked on the electrical mechanisms for the Panama Canal locks. His professional career was spent convincing industry throughout New York to use electric power in its industrial production. Bill produced four typed copies of his autobiography. He gave me one of them. I also have an archival file box filled with Bill’s personal and professional papers. I plan to donate Bill’s autobiography and papers to the Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation library, but, like so many things I own that are personal, I am not quite ready to give them up at this juncture.

Autobiographies and memoirs are a story of a person’s life written by that person. They differ in that an autobiography simply presents the facts relating to a person’s life. A memoir is a personal reflection and focuses on the emotional connections associated with that life. In many cases, a memoir concentrates on a specific period of a person’s life rather than being comprehensive.

In the course of my antiques and collectibles career, I was approached several times and asked to consider writing a memoir. Although each offer was tempting, I wanted to wait until my career was near its end or at its end. This was the only way the memoir would be complete.

I waited too long. Book publishing is on the decline. Interest in books about collecting antiques and collectibles, the objects, and the industry almost has vanished. The arrival of the age of self-publishing, something I have no desire to do, has enabled the “big” publishers to be highly selective.

In some ways, my syndicated “Rinker on Collectibles” columns constitute a memoir. The columns often are written in the first person and are rich with stories about my antiques and collectibles experiences and how I interpreted them. Two collections of my column have been published. A third was ready to go on press in the early 2000s when I stopped it.

After careful consideration, I have no desire to write an autobiography. Facts are facts, dull and lifeless when there are no stories and insights associated with them. I have always been a storyteller, sticking to the facts but occasionally embellishing them to make a point. Stories make antiques and collectible objects come alive. The same is true for facts. Paul Harvey’s famous phrase “The Rest of the Story” always has been a guiding principle in my writing.

Assuming I have the time and energy, I will write three memoirs. The first will focus on growing up in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. It will be filled with stories about my nucleated family and other Hellertownians and my attempts to create an individual personality in a society that basically wanted everyone to fit into the same mold. I was a rebel but with a definite cause. My post-World War II childhood occurred before the Civil Rights era. In terms of the socially correct beliefs of the 2020s, everything I was taught to believe was right is now wrong. I still am not fully certain why.

The second memoir will focus on my education and career as a museum professional. It will be a memoir examining the difference between ideals and reality, the consequences of the need to blend the two, and the costs of independence. The insight I gained during this period shaped the rest of my life.

The third memoir will deal with my love of antiques and collectibles. It will be the broadest of the three because it will cover the largest chronological period. Collecting has been part of my persona since the beginning. A hobby became a profession which became an obsession.

I lived through the Golden Age of antiques and collectibles collecting, the late 1940s through the late 1990s. I was not only an astute observer but an active participant. I played a key role in creating the 1980s collectibles marketplace. My writings and educational efforts had a strong impact across the trade. Sometimes that impact was evident. Other times, I did my best to keep it quiet. In a field where independence is paramount, people do not like to learn they are being or have been manipulated. Since modesty has never been one of my virtues, I would like to tell my story as I see it rather than place the story in the hands of others.

I have written stories, all of which are unpublished, that are intended to be included in one of the three memoirs. I have set a goal of creating a chapter outline for each of the three memoirs by late Spring 2022 and to start writing over the summer.

I have never been a writer that rises at 5:00 or 6:00 AM, writes for the morning, and then takes the rest of the day off. Just because I “have never” does not meant that I will not or cannot. I am determined to see these three memoirs in manuscript form, even if I am the only one that reads them. I am at an age when time is of the essence. I will be setting my alarm for 5:00 AM starting next June.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Selected letters will be answered in this column. Harry cannot provide personal answers. Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned. Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5955 Mill Point Court SE, Kentwood, MI 49512. You also can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker@aol.com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

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