Christina Veit’s tea pot collection. (
)
When you venture into the lobby of the Goshen Public Library and Historical Society, you will soon see a delightful collection of tea pots in the Community Collection’s Showcase. This is Christina Veit’s collection, yet, ironically, she is a coffee drinker! She was born in Colombia where coffee is king, and her day can’t start without coffee. She loves coffee so much that coffee companies would do well to put an image of her smiling face on their coffee packages. So why does she collect tea pots?
It is all connected with the professional work she does as a dental hygienist. She has traveled the world using her skills and making significant contributions to others. Her tea pot collection began in Australia about 50 years ago where she and several other women from Canada and England established Australia’s first School of Dental Hygiene. (Note: today there are many other such schools in Australia, following the success of her school in Gilles Plains.)
While in Australia she was immersed in a culture of tea drinkers. While she could not give up her morning coffee — God forbid! – she began to join in with tea drinkers in the afternoon. That’s when she noticed the beautiful pots and began her collecting.
Examples in her collection come from other countries besides Australia, countries where she has worked: Romania, the Philippines, England, Bolivia, and of course her country of choice, the U.S. In the display case, many of the countries of origin are indicated.
Her favorite coffee? Colombian. Her favorite tea? Chamomile. Her favorite tea pot? That would be like asking parents which is their favorite child. (But there is no reason you can’t admire her collection and choose your favorite.) Perhaps her favorite is the pot she is filling with hot water in the afternoon when “Tea Time” has arrived. She enjoys her tea in the den with Lucy her dog who always gets dog treats.
Christina is a long-time library supporter, an officer in the very active Friends of the Goshen Public Library group and a regular volunteer in the library’s’ Friend’s Used Book Store.
If you have a collection that you would be willing to share, email Jim Tarvin at jtarvin@hvc.rr.com. You may not think your collection is of museum quality, but if it gives you joy, that joy can be shared with others!