What Should I save?

There is a lot of talk these days about preserving data,pictures,etc and how that should be done. It seems like it is an ongoing process that needs to be repeated at least every 15-20 years even under the best of circumstances. There are whole industries set up to do this and keep you updated on the latest technology as the types of media are constantly changing as well as the formats of the media. I do believe that this is worth doing, but it is a job for libraries and museums and perhaps some professionals, and not something to worry individuals with.
I seriously doubt that anyone in the future will devote much of their valuable time to sorting through my photos, whatever format they are in. Family will doubtless pull out a few and save those, but they will have plenty of their own to deal with. The fact is that digital cameras and computer storage has made photography so cheap, easy, and yes -good- that everybody I know has a computer full or half full. Mine are much better organized also than the closet I have stacked with boxes of prints, separated by year, if at all. I seldom to never go through the hassle of dragging those boxes down and pawing through them. At least looking at them on the computer requires a lot less effort. The point is there are just toooo many, so they can't be that precious.
A few nights ago I was watching a program on the history channel called "Life After People". The main point of the show seemed to be that all our precious objects, like the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, all kinds of monuments,the Constitution, the Sistine Chapel, all great human works, it seems, require constant upkeep. Without this upkeep, they slowly deteriorate.
I thought of all the stuff in my house that I am "keeping". For what? It certainly is a housekeeping nightmare for me. If I am going to "keep" anything for posterity, what should it be? I immediately thought of a bank commercial of a few years ago that said money was flat and meant to be stacked up, so I guess money would be a good and easy? thing to save.
Photographs might be a good thing to keep, but as I have pointed out, they need to be judiciously weeded so that the number is not overwhelming and the reasons for selecting the chosen ones are obvious. Nobody would want to save my honeymoon pictures taken in Mammoth Cave because not even I can tell top from bottom. Not only that, but color pictures deteriorate sharply after about 25 years. Black and white lasts the longest, but they need to be done professionally to last. Currently black and whites are run through the same chemical dips as color and therefore do not last any longer.
I want to save my grandmother's quilts because of the countless hours she put into them. They bring up her memory sharply to me,but I do not know if I am really prepared to do what it takes to keep them in good condition. They need to be stored in cotton sleeves or pillow cases, not allowed to touch wood, aired and refolded in different places at least once a year to keep the fabric from weakening.
Pottery, ceramic, glass. and metal keep well if stored carefully. On the other hand, things that have come to me from previous generations get much of their value to me from their having been used, not simply stored. I have a pie plate from my grandmother that is crazed with brown marks across the cream colored surface. Hundreds of pies were baked in that plate and when I hold it I can feel the family bonds that held the eaters of those pies, even as they hold me.
My parents had a hoosier but when daddy made the new cabinets, the hoosier was sent to a cow shed where it rapidly fell apart.I wished at the time that I could have kept it, but my circumstances prevented me from claiming it. It is just hard to say what the next generation might be interested in.
I garden but a garden will not last one year without the gardener. The trees will persist for years, but most of the annuals and perennials will perish shortly. Daffodils, narcissus, crinium lilies, and old timey petunias are often seen around old home sites in the south, but not much else.
So what is really worth passing on? Maybe a knife, a vase, a few pictures but the best we can hope for is to live one or two generations in the memory of those who knew us. If we can pass along some of the traits that we believe are best in ourselves, that make us better examples of good living, that is all we need worry about.