She not only had her own materials, but four other relations' collections also, covering many decades of historical interests. Among the delights was a box of funeral cards. These pasteboard cards were printed when someone died, and gave information about when the funeral would take place. They were often displayed in store windows and given to friends and relations. They served as mementos and also as invitations to the funeral.
Funeral cards have a great attraction for genealogists.
They were a kind of family document which even the poorest families could afford, and most managed to have one or two at least tucked away safely. Many people have a few, but large numbers of them are rare. Several years ago I wrote about Jimmy Patterson's drawerful of funeral cards. He had forty years' worth in the office behind his hardware store in Ayr. He allowed the Kitchener Public Library to copy them, but he died not long after.