I am about to discard a bathroom mat. You know the kind: little more than a thick towel. It has my grandmother's handwriting on the edge. Her handwriting reads: 10/15/47. Now, lest some of you think that that is from 1847, I need sorely disappoint you. The bathmat is only 67 years old. Time marches on. That is all.
The fascination part: why would she write the date on a bath mat? Did she expect it to have an expiration date?
I think it's a generational thing. I see many of my grandparent's artifacts that are signed, dated, etc. I suspect people back then had a different awareness of passing things down or documenting their lives in the smallest ways.
There must have been a reason for dating the mat, maybe she fixed up the bathroom that day. Like James Anders said above, she was documenting her life in a small way. She probably dated a lot of thing hoping those dates would remind others of her existence; tonight it has...
Or maybe it's because she made it. Or it was handwriting from a factory. People who turned 16 in 1964 are now 65 or 66. Fast approaching the point of old people complaining that music today isn't quite as good as when they were young.
Somewhat ironic: UK 1947 Great Britain Nationalisation 15th October, 1947 : The government has stated that the nationalization of the Gas industry will occur before the Iron and Steel industries are nationalized as it is more important to the British economy and it provides the fuel needed to run the Iron and Steel industries. source:What Happened on October 15th This Day in History
In the course of time, the archaelogists will discover that this was an early groundbreaking work. One of the first documented finds of bathroom leetspeak.
Good one. She embroidered LOLS - she won an internet before it existed. I love finding things from my family that hint at some thought process or something inside. My grandparents escaped WW2 kids under arms so there isn't any *stuff* from those days. What will our grandkids find serendipitously?
?? WW2 ended more than 2 years before in 1945. FWIW I was barely 2 months old when Audubon's grandma dated that bathmat. And YES music nowadays is definitely not as good as the 60's and 70's! :biggrin:
If you were to bring this mat to the Antiques Roadshow, I'd love to listen to its description by the "18th-20th century bathroom apparel" expert they would undoubtedly find somewhere !
Lordy Lordy....look what happens when internet posters and internet readers have more time on their hands than they oughter....