Souvenir

Souvenir completely fit Object Lessons’ profile of being a series that “paints a picture of the world around us, and tells the story of how we got here, one object at a time.”

Besides the cover, what caught my attention was that the author was Rolf Potts, whose work I’m familiar with and have quite enjoyed. Souvenir did not disappoint. In a short, novella-length piece, Potts covered the history or souvenirs from religious relics to “13 tons of contraband Eiffel Tower kitsch!” which were confiscated by Parisian police. The way he looked at things such as a possibly authentic Shakespeare chair in a similar vein to the religious relics – who knew how many sets of a saint’s bones had been found-was fascinating.

I’d recently had a thought about some made in China souvenir I’d picked up and how souvenirs had, in some ways, lost their connection to what they depicted. But as he also addressed, the souvenir might be about the physical object, but it might be about the memory of where the object came from. I personally am more likely to keep the found items type of souvenirs: ticket stubs, museum brochures and the like, but there are items such as a flamenco poster from a 1996 trip to Spain that I remember the exact moment of purchase.

I liked how he traced the history of post cards, once called postal cards. They are, for me, the type of souvenir buying that has changed the most over time. At first, they were cheap and I enjoyed sending them to friends & family back home. Plus the photos they were with were much better than something I could take with a film or early digital camera. Then I wasn’t sending them as often and sometimes felt “I could take a better version of that photo”. Recently with the advent of drone photography, it’s back to “wow, I can’t get that photo”. I don’t always send them, but rather use them as photo memories of a trip. This is also true of items in a museum which maybe didn’t allow photography or the light was too dim to get a good one.

I also really liked how he used his own souvenirs to tell the broader story of what made a souvenir. These ranged from a “seashell” he collected on a trip where he first went to the beach as a child, to a fuse box pilfered from (and later returned to) a plane crash in Colorado as a teen, to theater masks collected while traveling in Asia. This also allowed him to explore the intersection between souvenirs, museum collections and the evolution of museums today, another area of personal interest to me.

All in all, a wonderful, quick read. I look forward to reading more in the Object Lessons series as I think this is a wonderful vehicle for exploring the everyday world.

What a fascinating book!  Are you someone who will always, without fail, pick up a souvenir while you're on vacation?  For some us it just wouldn't be a vacation without looking for that perfect little souvenir.  My first memories of vacation souvenir hunting was on The Boardwalk of Ocean City, MD.  A piece of jewelry,usually a ring that was going to turn my finger green (and one for my mom while I was at it). A Christmas ornament that would remind me of where it was purchased while decorating the tree every year.  A piece of artwork.  I love this little book.  I found it through NetGalley.com, but when the hardback version comes out in March, I want a copy on my shelf.  An autographed copy would be perfect!!!!

This is the first time I have read one of the Object Lessons series from Bloomsbury Publishing and if the standard is as comparable to this one on souvenirs then I will certainly be interested in reading others from the series. Although only around 100 or so pages in length this book has great depth and meaning as it tackles the cultural and historic significance of what a souvenir is. 

The history of the souvenir is traced from the ancient world through its significance as a venerated religious entity as relics emanating from the Holy land were brought back to consecrate medieval churches at the time of the Crusades. Then at the time of the Enlightenment the souvenir often plundered from its original setting formed the basis for todays renowned museum collections. The controversy surrounding the Elgin Marbles acquired by the British Museum is a case in point.

Rolf Potts explores the souvenirs relevance in todays world whether to poor native people selling them to rich tourists or the ubiquitous gift shop that seemingly adorns every place of an historic interest. The history of common place items such as tourist spoons and post cards is explored. The need to possess something that reminds one of a past time or event in one's life is an intrinsic human emotion. The chapter on souvenirs and human suffering was certainly harrowing and showed a darker side to human nature that certainly made me think.

An exquisite book that I certainly believe is well worth a read.