by Joni Astrup
Associate Editor
As Ellen Radel approached retirement, she began thinking about what the next chapter of her life would look like.
One day while going through a closet, she came across some Little Golden Books that she had read to her children and inspiration struck.
She wanted to learn more about them, start acquiring more and begin reading them to her first grandchild.
Today she’s a collector of those popular children’s books and owns more than 1,300 titles.
She brought part of her collection to the Elk River Library on Saturday, March 30, as part of Doug Ohman’s presentation on Minnesota collections.
Radel, who was a professor of health and physical education at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, is one of the collectors featured on Ohman’s new Pioneer PBS Landmarks program about collections.
She said the Little Golden Books were launched in 1942 with just 12 titles — including “Three Little Kittens” and “The Poky Little Puppy” — to test the waters.
“They didn’t know if this was going to work out or not,” she said.
The books went on to become very popular. All told, about 1,650 Little Golden Books titles have been published over the years and new titles are still being released.
Her favorite is “Georgie Finds a Grandpa.”
Radel has bought the books at garage sales, church sales and thrift stores, plus she has purchased a couple of collections of Little Golden Books.
Besides collecting and selling the books, she has made about 100 appearances at libraries, museums and other venues to talk about the history of Little Golden Books and the importance of reading to children.
For many, the books evoke some golden memories of childhood.
From agates to Hamm’s to clocks
Ohman, a storyteller, photographer, historian and author, contends that everyone has a passion for collecting in some degree or another.
He began collecting postage stamps as an 8-year-old boy. While he no longer collects them, he later inherited his dad’s postage stamp collection and cherishes it as part of the family history.
These days, Ohman mostly collects things he finds through metal detecting. He brought along to the Elk River Library a small collection of bridle rosettes that he found in the ground. The rosettes were used on the bridles of horses.
Several collectors were in the audience at Ohman’s presentation. He singled them out, one by one, to ask them about their collections.
Lyndon Johnson is known as the Agate Man. He has been rock hunting for years and has collected more than 1,800 pounds of agates, including one that weighs 20 pounds. He’s also written a book on the subject, called “Lake Superior Agates: What to Look For.”
Ohman asked Johnson if he had any advice for collectors. “When in doubt, dig it out,” Johnson said of agate collecting.
Hamm’s beer items are the focus for collector Randy Rennaker.
His grandparents had a small basement bar with a Hamm’s beer sign featuring a waterskiing scene that Rennaker admired as a boy. The sign later ended up in his dad’s shop. Several years ago, when Rennaker and his family built a new home, the Hamm’s sign found a place in his man cave.
“That really started the collection for me,” he said.
Rennaker said a lot of people like to collect Hamm’s beer items. Hamm’s is known for the quality of its advertising, which drew heavily on outdoor themes. As an outdoorsman, that appeals to him.
“Hamm’s had a philosophy that everything had to be top notch, including their beer,” Rennaker said, noting that Hamm’s was a premium brewer back in the day.
Others in the audience also shared their collections, talking about things like rock collecting, letterboxing, sports cards, ABC books, radios, sunglasses and clocks.
The clock collector said he has about 75 clocks at his house.
“Are you ever late?” Ohman asked him.
Ohman also outlined some tips for collecting, from fine tuning a collection to researching it to displaying it.
His last tip was this: “Be patient. Collecting isn’t a race. It’s about enjoying every step in the journey.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0