Your COLLECTION, Part III

     One afternoon I had a phone call from a Very Important Institution. A client of theirs had died, leaving instructions that her collection of Jayne Mansfield memorabilia was to go to the Newberry Library.

     "Do you WANT that kind of stuff at the Newberry?" the Representative of Importance asked me. "Because we can just throw it away if you don’t."

     I explained that the Library probably didn’t want it, but the Book Fair could use it. I’d dealt with some Shaun Cassidy and John Travolta collections, and a rather small Elvis  one, but Jayne Mansfield is eBay gold, and I said I would be glad to take it off their hands.

     "Well, I’ll bring it over one of these days," I was told.  "I'll be in the neighborhood in the next couple of weeks."

     About a week later, a woman knocked on the back door and gave me two shopping bags of material.  "This is that Jayne Mansfield collection I called about," she said, looking a bit embarassed.  "Are you sure the Newberry wwants to bother with it?"
     I said we were thrilled and grateful. She shrugged and left the bags with me. I lost no time in checking to see what kind of memorabilia I was dealing with.
Full piece here.