If you've ever collected or happen to own an autograph or other memento of a famous person, would you part with it?

I have signed photos of a bunch of people from the 60s (presidents, senators, and on). I have them in a cabinet, I have held onto them for 40 years.

I’m not a collector but I have a few and no, I hold them for a while, enjoy them like a dragon with her hoard, then let them go for someone else to enjoy. I’m a minimalist so it works for me.

I’m going through the archives (piles of stuff) retrieved before we sold the family home. I found a thank you note Phyllis Diller wrote to me dad, thanking him for a positive newspaper review. For a while he was entertainment editor for a paper in a medium-sized town.

She drew a little caricature of herself. I wouldn’t sell that because it’s addressed to my dad. I can’t imagine I would get more than twenty or thirty dollar for it anyway.

Until a moment ago I thought I had a signed copy of The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, which I planned to sell. But Wikipedia says he died before publication, and “Grant’s printed signature followed the dedication: ‘These volumes are dedicated to the American Soldier and Sailor. / U. S. Grant / New York City / May 23rd, 1885’”

Much more interesting and valuable (to me, not on the market) are my mother’s collection of letters. There is a whole string of rejection letters from her post-college job hunt in the mid 1950s, most of them saying something like “We don’t hire women for this job” or “a woman wouldn’t be effective in this position.”

I have several letters from Dan Rather to a young Miss back in 1967 where they were corresponding back and forth and Dan Rather signed every one. I tried several years
ago to get these letters BACK to Mr. Rather as I think he would enjoy reading them
after all this time. I couldn’t come up with an address that I could trust where I could
send them to him. The letters Dan wrote to her are on CBS News stationary. Anyone
have a good idea what would be the best thing to do with them?

@Call_Me_Jay Much more interesting and valuable (to me, not on the market) are my mother’s collection of letters. There is a whole string of rejection letters from her post-college job hunt in the mid 1950s, most of them saying something like “We don’t hire women for this job” or “a woman wouldn’t be effective in this position.” Very cool!

@MooCows Just keep them.

I have several books signed by the author, including _An Outdoor Journal: Adventures and Reflections _ by Jimmy Carter. Got it at a book signing in 1988 in Columbus, Georgia (about 60 miles from Plains, Georgia where he was living).