Women's History Month 2021: The Antique Store as Museum

Photos taken at Wynola Junction Antiques by Gena Philibert-Ortega 

The Antique Store. Book stores and antique stores are my weakness. I have been going to antique stores since I was a kid. What I have always loved about them is their ability to provide us with a peek into the past. 

Antique stores are a type of museum. They are museums where you can touch and buy what's on display. Items are placed on display and curated by booth owners according to their interests, theme, etc. Unlike formal museum exhibits, these items are not labeled so we have to use our imagination or Google powers to learn more about the item. The antique store allows us as the viewer to actively interact with the "exhibits."

Gena Philibert-Ortega

For the genealogist, antique stores can help us replace long discarded childhood objects. They can help us acquire items that are from our family's history. They can even help us purchase items that help us tell a story.

Today, I go to antique stores to buy images, cookbooks, and items that I want to write about. And while I have stumbled upon a photograph of my paternal grandfather at an antique store (in one of those bins of photographs), mostly I purchase items that can help tell a family story, set the stage, or help me understand a time period.

Have you gone to the antique store to better understand your female ancestor's life? If not, try it. Look for:

• Clothing
• Postcards
• Cookbooks
• Dishes
• Jewelry
• Books
• Kitchen items (linens, salt and pepper shakers, silver)

Basically, anything that might remind you of a female ancestor or was something from that time period that helps you tell the story.

Gena Philibert-Ortega

For example, want to share what your grandmother's life was like during World War II in regards to sacrifices made?  Don't have WWII ration books? No problem, buy some at the antique store and use them to explain food rationing on the homefront. 

Look at antique stores differently. They are great places to shop, but they also can teach us quite a bit about our female ancestors.

Tomorrow, let's look at another place that isn't a traditional museum. See you tomorrow.