Originally Posted by mhollifiel

Quilter (former librarian) weighs in: Let's change our perspective a bit. These 20 volumes WERE valuable. Before you trash them and their contents with a heavy heart, consider the value they have already had to a wonderful, prolific, and very gifted quilter. She compiled them for a reason. No doubt they gave her great satisfaction way beyond the joy of gifting her quilts. Likely she referred to them for reference and inspiration often. They served additionally as a growing, tangible evidence of her "body of work" easily seen by her as she went about her daily life. While she gifted quilts all her life, no quilt was ever really gone from her so long as she had each quilt's complete record within these volumes. These books had a value to her that will never be remotely close to their value to anyone else. These quilt journals will be a burden no matter what you do with them just as they are to you. No one will ever find the purpose and/or joy in these 20 volumes that she did. Just as she is gone, so should these personal records be since it's obvious that no one will ever find the joy in them that she did. One of my graduate professors asked our class how we felt about "weeding" (purging) books from library collections. We were horrified at the thought! Her response: "Books live a long and useful life. Then the time comes when they have finished serving their purpose. They DESERVE a decent burial!"