That’s right; over 700 of the matching fabric covers or sleeves that new umbrellas come packaged in have wound their way to Nancy’s museum in Peaks Island, Maine.

Whenever I bought a new umbrella, I would toss the cover into this copper wash basin I have in my living room, where I keep my winter scarves and gloves and things like that. So over the years I had accumulated maybe five or six covers.

One day in 1992 I was cleaning out this bin, and noticed that I had a bunch of the little buggers. Why did I keep them in the first place?  I’m not really sure.  I guess because they were somehow quirky and cute.  I didn’t really see any use for them, since after you took them off the umbrella they were almost impossible to get back on again.  And I didn’t really think they were necessary for storing the umbrella.  (Footnote:  I have since found out that a number of people DO in fact use their umbrella covers, but more on that later). I figured they were manufactured so carefully for a reason, I just didn’t know the reason.  But I hesitated to throw them out, in case I was missing something.

According to daysoftheyear.com