Refrigerator magnets

A mere fraction of the 45,000 magnets that make up the collection of Louise Greenfarb, who made the Guinness Book of Records for owning the most magnets in the world. She doesn't own enough refrigerators to contain them all -- they're spread throughout her Nevada home.

According to anthropology professor Anthony Graesch, if you want to get to know a family, take a look in their kitchen - and what's stuck on their refrigerator, as magnets (and what they hold) say a lot about who we are.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan

Refrigerator magnets are a fairly recent development in the life of the American kitchen; a patent for a magnetic "holder of paper or the like" was issued in 1954. Magnets have since become a popular means of displaying notes, photos and kitschy art.

Left: Refrigerator magnets of Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union, and Russian President Vladimir Putin are displayed in downtown Moscow, January 11, 2008.

London bus fridge magnets are seen on sale on April 22, 2010 in London, England.

A scene shot at the miniature Look Magnet Museum, featuring tiny refrigerator magnets representing great works of art, in Vienna, October 4, 2012.

The "pop-up" museum was opened as part of Vienna's "Lange Nacht" festival, showcasing works by Picasso, Monet and countless others, in a space measuring approximately 100 square feet. Max Spohn, a magnet aficionado with more than 2,000 pieces, has replicated the exhibit annually with his ever-growing collection.

Refrigerator magnets promoting Syrian President Bashar Assad are displayed at a tourist shop in Damascus, April 30, 2011.

Fridge magnets of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI are sold in Rome, Feb. 25, 2013.

Refrigerator magnets showing pictures of Mao Zedong are displayed at a market in Beijing on February 26, 2013.

"Waterdroplet" magnets from Korean designer Sangwoo Nam. They come in white, silver, or black, to match the color of your fridge.

Minneapolis artist Jeffrey Gauss, who sells his magnetic art under the nom d'art "MagnetDude," displays this "Horizon" multi-media piece in which acrylic paint, Swarovski crystals and vintage glass beads are affixed to flexible magnetic vinyl.

Collector Louise Greenfarb says her magnets, which stretch from the fridge to the front door, represent "memories of things that happened in my life, were given to me for a reason, or I bought for a reason."

Greenfarb's magnets depict old time movie stars, and even the Baltimore Orioles' 1997 schedule. She says she throws nothing out.

Ol' Blue Eyes, and snake eyes.

There is even a place for food outside of the refrigerator.

Anthropologist Anthony Graesch spent four years studying "everything but the kitchen sink" in the homes of middle-class families in Los Angeles. He thinks refrigerator magnets and the stuff they hold say a lot about us.

"The kitchen is truly a fascinating place," Graesch told Faith Salie of "Sunday Morning." "This is sort of Command Central of American family life. And in the kitchen is the refrigerator, this iconic object."

Graesch and his colleagues found that refrigerators in homes with children are festooned with an average of 52 magnets - with some families' fridges holding as many as 150 to 160 objects.

"These refrigerator displays communicate a lot of what is significant to the family," said Graesch. "The sheer density of objects that was on those refrigerators was really quite extraordinary."

Or, as one father said of his kitchen appliance, "Here is our life on the refrigerator."

Left: More from Louise Greenfarb's collection.

Wish you were here - a "postcard" magnet.

Serendipity in the placement of magnets - a cop car and six-pack.

But the creative clutter of a refrigerator door may become a thing of the past. Last year more than 30 percent of all refrigerators sold in the U.S. were stainless steel - and magnets don't stick on most of those new, shiny fridges.

A clever means of advertising - and a handy place to keep that pizza delivery phone number - may soon be lost.

"The refrigerator is a repository of family memory, and a place to schedule everything that's going on in your life," Graesch told Salie. "It's sort of the corporeal equivalent of Facebook and Google Calendar all wrapped into one."

And one that may soon lose its magnetic attraction.

More from Louise Greenfarb's world-record collection of refrigerator magnets.

For more info:
magneticpoetry.com
Prof. Anthony Graesch, Connecticut College, New London, Conn.
"Life at Home in the Twenty-first Century: 32 Families Open Their Doors" by Jeanne Arnold, Anthony Graesch, Enzo Ragazzini and Elinor Ochs (Cotsen)
Magnetic art by Jeffrey Gauss, a.k.a. Magnet Dude
Korean designer Sangwoo Nam
Fridge Magnets Community
Magnets from zazzle.com, fridgedoor.com and retroplanet.com
Design your own magnets at cafepress.com and refrigeratormagnets.com

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan