Susan Farrell Bankhead, Certified Genealogist (sm)
Protecting and Passing: Memories and Memorabilia
Has your collection of family memorabilia grown over time as elderly relatives pass their treasures your way?
I recently visited my mother in southern California. Each time I go to see her, she asks me to bring an empty car so she can fill it with the family heirlooms to send home with me. During this visit, my mom’s sister died. Hitting pretty close to home, and recognizing her own inevitable demise, my mom stepped up her gifting, and did indeed fill my car. It will take a while to sort, preserve, and catalog this haul. I will do it, because it’s important to me. I AM the family historian.
Are you the family historian? Each family usually has at least one who cares about the family tree.
It’s a blessing to be the designated family historian. You have the great opportunity to recreate the family tree and bring the stories to life that would otherwise be lost.
It’s a great opportunity to share with others. Family historians have stuff others would love to see, and other descendants have stuff the family historian has not seen. For example, a distant cousin revealed to me that she possessed a Maltese Cross handed down through the family from a soldier who went with Clive to India, but I never even saw a photograph of it. In another instance, I heard my Eastman family had a first edition copy of the Book of Mormon. The Eastman’s were Baptist preachers in central New York during Joseph Smith’s time there. I never viewed that either. I would have loved to have been able to examine these things myself.
It’s also a great responsibility and challenge to catalog, organize, and preserve the family heirlooms. Many of us have paper files, digital files, multiple family history databases, notebooks, boxes, framed family photos, family jewelry, family china, silver, antique furniture, etc.
How we protect and preserve these things is challenging because:
- Most of us don’t have unlimited space to store the family heirlooms indefinitely.
- Each type requires a different method of preservation. They don’t all fit nicely into the same size box.
- Family heirlooms may become damaged or destroyed from natural disasters, fires, floods, moving, or decay.
- We need to find a good “home” to pass the treasures on when they can no longer care for them, but it is rare to find another family member who will give these items the same protections.
In his Genea-musings Blog, Randy Seaver presented what he plans to do with the “stuff” he’s inherited or found. This blog is titled, “Dear Randy: What are you Going to do with your genealogy stuff?” Randy gives some great ideas of things he is doing or plans to do.
In addition to Randy’s ideas, I have a suggestion.
I think it would be a good idea to take a digital photo of the china, the silver, the jewelry, even the framed family photos. Next, write the family history as much as you currently have researched and attach the photos. Then, post your contribution on the Internet at a site that will not disappear when you die. That way, everyone who is interested would be able to see the family heirlooms and benefit from knowing about the family.
If you’re heading to a relative’s home for Thanksgiving, keep an eye out for the family heirlooms, then whip out your digital camera, take a picture, and make a note about the item while you can interview the owner of the object.
What are you doing to preserve, protect, and pass on your family files and heirlooms?
Welcome to the club! I am the family historian as well and am currently up to my eyeballs after cleaning out the family home. It’s fun and frustrating all at the same time. We just keep plugging along…
Yes Michelle. Where are all the other family members that could be helping us?
Thank you for this website and your efforts. I am just about to sort through a mountain of genealogical research documents and correspondence. Both of my parents were genealogist, each one interested in mapping their own family tree. They are gone now. My sister and I have every paper, letter, photo and note that they ever made. And, of course, we are the proud owners of the summarization they made applicable to our family tree(s). Unfortunately, we don’t know what to do with the mountain of research information. I’m pleased to find your interest in collecting ideas from others just like us. The best thing that I can think of to offer is this … a mere “school of thought”. The whole is many times a summary of all its parts. I’m going to attempt to break down all that I have into meaningful “identities” such as “family surnames”, “census copies”, “photos plus personal docs”, “originals”, etc. It has been my experience, through organizing garage sales, file cabinets, closets, drawers and even building scrapbooks that the more organization you put into something, the more that something will speak to you. Eventually, IT will give you answers to where to go and what to do. In our case, we fortunately have some active genealogists that may take some of our research. And we have cousins that would love to have memorabilia, or at least a copy. Those are probably some of the answers that are coming. But, we have to get it to that point first. In my humble opinion … organization IS the key. The last thing we should do is throw any collection away. What a waste that would be. Any advice or supporting words from you and others is greatly appreciated. Again … thank you for your efforts in creating and maintaining this website.