Our disappearing history

Nothing like a cool fall afternoon at the flea market....one of my favorite pastimes is digging through piles of old cool stuff, taking a glimpse at what life was like 100 years ago.  Strangely enough, I can't help but think that 100 years from now there will be precious little evidence of our past to sift through other than what might be saved in digital form.  The truth is...nobody really knows how long anything saved in digital form might last.

Here's the problem (or problems) as I see it:

Photos:  Old pictures from the past, although fragile, are tangible and can be physically archived even if that archive happens to be a hot attic.  I know that most of the photos I have taken in the last 5 years are currently stored in digital form.  While its true that I took thousands of photos in those years, almost none are in tangible form.  As technology progresses, more and more photos are lost forever due to hardware failures, storage device failures and changes in storage format.  If I kept my photos on an unmarked SD card in a drawer, what are the chances my family would know to look for it if I left this earth suddenly?  Physical pictures can be found, SD cards get lost or tossed.  So....what are the odds any of my family photos will be around in 100 years?   Should I plan better?  Yes, but like most people, properly archiving digital photos isn't on the top of the To-do list.  Most will vanish...probably.  What this means is that after physical pictures gave way to digital, there may be huge gaps in family photgraphic history, and even history in a broader sense if we fail to back up the zeros and ones to something more physical.

Household items:  Nothing is made to last anymore.  That 100 year old apple corer that grandpa got from his dad is made of cast iron.  It isn't going anywhere.  Today everything is made to toss, and even if it isn't, the quality of yesteryear is long gone.  Today an apple corer might make it a couple of decades if there's no plastic in it and its stored carefully.  Sadly, our history is sent to the landfill on a daily basis.  The same goes for furniture.  How long can a particle board chest of drawers be expected to last?  In a moist spot it might last 6 months before it disintegrates into oatmeal.  Even real furniture, with few exceptions, won't last as long as the solid wood and pegged construction of years long gone.

Homes:  I love stepping into a 150 year old home.  Beams were beefy and foundations were stone.  Many were engineered to outlast even the longest living occupants.  Not today.  Profit margin rules when it comes to constructing new homes.  Most are slapped up in a few weeks using plastic pipe, OSB...which is just fancy particle board, and a quick covering of vinyl siding.  Weather and water, a home's mortal enemy make quick work of newer structures.  Cheap materials rot and decay quickly if exposed to the elements.  Older homes with their dense wood and stone structures resist weather longer (although when they fail, they fail big.)  The charm, quality and sturdiness of older homes often makes them candidates for restoration.  New tract housing often has zero charm and only provides basic shelter and structure.  Recent homes in poor condition are more often razed than renovated because it makes little economic sense to restore them.  Once again, the almighty dollar dictates the demise of our physical history.

So what will be out there to look at in 100 years?  Will the furniture below have the same value in the future as a walnut Victorian chest from around 1900 has today?  Will it even last a tiny fraction of a century?

So what do you think the life expectancy is for something made of pressed sawdust?