Vanessa WoodI’ve been working on several longer projects to preserve the creative efforts in my family. Looing at art, music, and home sewing can add new perspective to our kin. I knew my grandmother used to quilt with her mother and sisters. With a bit of digging I’ve discovered just how accomplished, and probably talented they were.
On 11 July 1954–70 years ago–my grandpa, Harold Paulson, a Swedish immigrant, entered an American recording studio. He laid down some hot, jammin’ tracks. He sings and plays his instrument——an accordion. It depends which generation hears the word accordion whether they think of Lawrence Welk or Weird Al. Grandpa was seventy-three years old when he made the record. I wonder if family pushed him to do the recording or if he made it as a gift to the family.
I also found his instruments (they’ve been passed on to another family member). He had two accordions: a newer Hohner and an older Arion.
Photographs by Vanessa Wood, 2011.
Grandpa’s recording sat for decades because we lacked a turntable. I recently went to a recording studio that could put the record into Mp3 format. There was quite a bit of oooing and awing over the pristine condition of the record. I learned that it was an original acetate press; not vinyl.
Listen to Mp3
Mp3 Recording, Vanessa Wood, all rights reserved © 2024, .
Hearing my grandpa again was a treat. I wondered where he learned to play the accordion. I wondered where he used to play it–did he play it in the bars where he worked in his 20s? Did he play it in Sweden before coming to America?
Genealogy is more than dates and records. Preserving a family’s creative endeavors enhances what is known about them. Sometimes the clues are buried in old records like finding a piano or fiddle in a probate file, but sometimes the clues are on a shelf or in a closet in our own homes. These creative pieces show the times in which they lived, their interests, and their talents. I have new insights from these projects. I can say I come from an artistic and musical family.
