So many people ask what happens to the Kindred Spirit notebooks after they’re collected? Myself and other volunteers gather them up and take them home every week or so during the busy season, we try our best to de-sand them, and let them air out to dry. We gather and collect them for several months, storing them some place climate controlled to keep them intact.
After each summer season, I make the trek up to Wilmington to deliver the Kindred Spirit notebooks collected during the year to UNCW’s Special Collections Department. They catalog each and every notebook and note left in the mailbox, make sure photocopied, and then preserved. I know this must be a daunting task for them, below is a photo of the box of stray notes–ones I imagine people wrote ahead of time and brought there to leave behind. This year, I also brought both mailboxes (one brought down after Tropical Storm Ana and the other after Hurricane Joaquin).
Jerry Parnell, the Coordinator of Special Collections, is always helpful when I come for these visits. He and I keep in touch throughout the year and he always asks about Frank. He has a great interest in the mailbox and in preserving this type of folk-history for years to come. I love knowing these journals, the thoughts and prayers of so many, will be a part of North Carolina’s history forever.
Here are some photos from this year’s delivery:
