Photo Story: Tales from the Lost and Found

A look at some of the items left behind in Western’s lost and found.

Photo Essay by Olivia Palmer

I love the lost and found.

Don’t get me wrong — I try not to make a habit of losing things. But on the occasion that I do, shuffling through a pile of forgotten items always seems to capture my imagination. I can’t help but wonder what stories they hold.

The long-term lost and found at Western Washington University’s Viking Union is full of stories. Down a set of stairs and through an unassuming doorway, dozens of plastic crates hold long-forgotten items. In one bin lies a puzzle of charging cables. In another, a collection of water bottles. In a third, a shelf’s worth of books.

Aliijah Motika, Viking Union information and welcome desk coordinator, recently clued me in on what goes on behind the scenes at the lost and found. When items are first found, he said, they’re sent to the short-term lost and found on the sixth floor and kept there for up to 60 days. Items are placed in large plastic bins labeled Monday through Sunday, and then moved to a back room if they’re not claimed by the end of the week.

The VU has a detailed system for tracking lost items, Student Employee Morgan Nichols said. Whenever an item is turned in, it’s logged in an online database with a description and information on when and where it was found. Items are then tagged with a QR-code sticker that links them to the database entry. Students can report their lost items on the VU’s website, and employees can search through the database for an item that matches that description.

This system of stickers and searches is fascinating, but to me, the fun really begins after the 60-day mark. At this point, lost objects are transferred to the long-term lost and found.

Motika said the Viking Union donates or sells most of the objects that wind up here. They typically host a mid-year rummage sale in the VU Multipurpose Room for students to buy items at a fair price, but due to the pandemic, they’ve forgone the tradition for the past three years. As a result, the modest storage closet is chock-full of items.

The VU’s focus on donating and selling items is exciting for a couple of reasons. Obviously, these practices address a growing concern over waste management — in 2018, the U.S. sent over 11 million tons of textiles alone to the landfill. But these practices also make for some stealing deals.

Brand new, a Hydro Flask retails at anywhere from $30-$60. At a lost and found rummage sale, you can swipe a used one for as low as $5-$10, Student Employee Rylan MacDonald said. Lucky for us, the lost and found will be holding a rummage sale again for the first time since 2019. The event will take place on Jan. 26, 2023.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to photograph the most common, interesting and peculiar items the long-term lost and found has to offer. As you look through these photos, I hope they give you something to think about.

Maybe you’ll scope out some potential buys. Maybe you’ll chuckle at an eccentric object or two. Or maybe, like me, you’ll take a moment to ponder the stories behind the items that — for one reason or another — no one has come back for.

When I first wander up to the short-term lost and found on the sixth floor of the Viking Union, I’m greeted by Rylan MacDonald, a student employee.

One of the first things I notice as I approach the glass desk at the short-term lost and found is a stack of student ID cards, at least two inches thick. Rylan says this particular collection accumulated over the course of the summer and fall at Western’s Lakewood Boathouse and was recently sent to the lost and found.

Rylan explains that when items are first found, they’re held in the short-term lost and found on the sixth floor for up to 60 days before being transferred to long-term storage.

Just two floors down, the long-term lost and found sits behind an unassuming grey door labeled “storage.” Inside the closet, a surfeit of plastic storage crates play Tetris with one another. The crates hold everything from clothes to shoes to books to electronics.

One of the most common items in the lost and found is water bottles — 19 bins’ worth, to be exact. The bins offer a wide array, from glossy blue Nalgenes to mint green Hydro Flasks. Each water bottle’s unique stickers seem to hint at the character that once owned them.

I’ve seen a lot of pens in my life. I think this one is by far one of the most ridiculous, and I love it.

The long-term lost and found also contains a plethora of jewelry — a unicorn keychain, ring watch and a pair of hoop earrings are just a few of my finds.

Somehow, a single crutch has become stranded in the long-term lost and found. I wonder — does it have a matching crutch somewhere out in the wide world, waiting for it to come home?

Morgan Nichols, another lost and found student employee, looks through a pair of binoculars they’ve dug out of one of the lost and found bins. If no one claims these suckers by the time the rummage sale comes around, I know I’ll be keeping my eye out for them.

The long-term lost and found abounds with sneakers. While I’m sure these were extra pairs of shoes students brought to the gym, I can’t help but laugh at the thought of a poor soul walking barefoot through campus.

Who lost this stuffed animal? Was it a child? A student? Your senior instructor from the computer science department?? I’m not sure where this little lamb came from, but to me, she looks like an Eloise.

Morgan sports a lab coat and goggles that I’ve uncovered from another pile of forgotten belongings.

As a journalism student, I’m astounded that someone could pay $30 for an AP style guide and manage to lose it — but it turns out they can. A book of 2020 world records, a world almanac, “The World’s Greatest Hotels” and the work of Bernie Sanders have also managed to slip through the cracks.

This pocket-sized planner is by far my favorite item from the lost and found. Every page adds to a painting in my mind of the person who once owned it — from their mundane reminders to their strange and powerful prose — and I can’t help but feel like a part of me knows them.