Digital photography means our computers and external drives are full of files to keep track of.

I wonder if the slides would be of interest to crafters. Lampshades and window covers via Pinterest. My scanning project at the museum has me in the middle of a bunch of slides taken for research by two area artists. They photographed art in books and used them for ideas or to to calculate the positions for the figures they were painting (wanting to have a modern rendering of the classics). Except for the fact that these are two famous artists, they probably would have been dumped. Here is an eBay take on the selling of old slides.

I have a closet in my office that sounds much like your study closet. Lots of paper that should go, but when I dive in to look at things there are interesting ideas - but will I ever follow-up? Probably not.