| Abstract |
Add & Mabel's Punkin Center is about memories. It's about the urge to collect things from the past to help make vivid those cherished times. But it's also about today, about two old-timers whose tender and jovial banter reveals a contentment with the present derived only from knowing their past. To experience Punkin Center in Southern Indiana is to experience the value of reminiscence. Today, we see a homespun folk museum filled with hundreds of thousands of antiques and curiosities Add and Mabel Gray have collected since the 1920s. Each item inspires stories about vaudeville acts and organ grinders, Kraft cheese parties and western swing, Depression days and Amish neighbors. Over the years, Punkin Center grew to become the hub - the true backbone of their Midwestern community, fulfilling a need for isolated rural folk to be in touch with each other and the rest of the world. |
