Storage ephemera

When a storage unit is auctioned off due to non-payment of rent, the buyer of the unit must leave behind any personal belongings; paperwork, photographs, etc. The owner of the personals is then notified that he/she has six months to claim them. If the personals remain unclaimed after six months, they are discarded. (In 15 years of owning/managing a storage facility, only one tenant has ever reclaimed his personals...)

As I sift through these personals, looking to destroy paperwork with social security numbers, etc., I realize I have access to a goldmine of ephemera! I have found (and kept) turn of the century photographs, greeting cards, ledgers, children's school papers, maps and stamps. I have a stack of partially used notebooks and a pile of lined paper. (I recently found a mass of blond hair that gave me the creeps. I'm not talking a sweet curl from baby's first haircut... This was a huge clump of hair! Needless to say, I wear gloves when I sift through these boxes.)

Vintage, turn-of-the-century photo album.

Below is a little canvas I first covered with a piece of ephemera 'recycled' from a box of personals. It's the spelling test of a first or second grade student. I put a thin wash of pink acrylic paint over it before adhering the other elements to the canvas.

I have half a dozen boxes of personals waiting to be purged. I wonder what treasures await me?