We all have those boxes: disintegrating cardboard stuffed to the brim with items passed down through generations. They may see the light of day once every few years, but otherwise sit in the forgotten corners of our attics and our minds.
While we could use less clutter in our lives, family artifacts like these can feel too precious to throw away. Each one is a snapshot of a moment in time that forms the narrative of a person or family. Deciding what’s important to keep and how to organize it all can seem like a daunting task. But, leave them sitting untouched for too long, and the memories will be lost to time.
So, how do you take box upon box of trinkets and documents and transform them into a cohesive narrative future generations can enjoy?
Preserve the stories behind your heirlooms
Step 1: Decide What to Keep
Deciding what and how to keep family artifacts is a crucial first step that ultimately boils down to one concept: What artifacts best relate to your family history, and how can you incorporate them into the narrative you want to preserve for future generations?
The five most common family artifacts historians and biographers encounter are:
photos
souvenirs and ephemera
diaries, journals, and letters
diplomas, report cards, coursework, and trophies
artwork
Each one of these categories have different methods of preservation that work best. There are some bulky artifacts—trophies, souvenirs or trinkets, and kiddie artwork—where the memory associated with the item is generally more valuable than the item itself. A simple solution with these is to photograph those artifacts and write a story (if it has one) to go with it. Those objects can then be discarded.
While it may feel difficult to part with an old little league MVP trophy or great aunt Judy’s oil paintings, ultimately the rule here is that if you don’t enjoy displaying or even looking at the artifact, it’s best to catalog it with a photo or scan, and then let it go. If there are some items you’d really like to hold onto, see if you can repurpose them as decoration, which can make for an interesting conversation piece for family or guests in your home.
With other documents such as letters, diaries, or report cards, it may be worth keeping the original, especially because digital files can become lost or damaged. However, many of these pieces were not made to last. Newspaper clippings, for example, are not only fragile, but their high acid content may actually damage other documents they touch.
In any case, it is worth photographing or scanning a curated selection of the original documents, then backing them up to a cloud service like Forever.com or an external hard drive or flash drive. Original documents worth keeping should then be cataloged and stored in a way that prevents further degradation.
If you don’t want to keep certain pieces but don’t quite want to throw them away, you can always check with other family members to determine if anyone would like them. Or, look into local museums and historical societies which might be able to preserve original items not only for your family, but to tell the story of your region for future generations.
Step 2: Decide How to Tell Your Family Story
Once you’ve determined the breadth of your collection of family artifacts and chosen what to keep, the next step is ensuring you preserve the memories associated with them. This might mean bringing the items or their digital duplicates to family members and asking about the stories behind them.
If your family members are willing, those conversations can be recorded. These recordings can then be saved and shared—or better, transcribed. The transcription will then serve as the basis for a polished manuscript. Oftentimes, the conversations you spark with objects can lead to stories that go far beyond the artifacts themselves and reveal interesting tidbits in family lore. They can even inspire you to write your own memoir!
Once the transcript is edited into a manuscript, it’s a matter of determining the best way of sharing that story with the rest of your family.
There are a few different ways to turn your family artifacts into a cohesive narrative:
a personal archive
a family history book
a memoir
Putting together a personal archive can seem daunting at first, but with the help of a preservation guide or a professional archivist, you can determine how to label and organize a pile of documents into a narrative. This could be the first step in putting together a family history book or a memoir, or simply the end product—like your own personal family museum.
A family history book is a compilation of items such as historical artwork, photographs, genealogy, and their accompanying stories. It is a fantastic way to piece together a cohesive family history that involves a wide variety of artifacts, especially when older family members have passed away and can no longer give firsthand accounts.
Finally, a memoir can incorporate both the elements of an archive and a family history book and adds first-person narrative. This is a way to ensure your own voice is captured in whatever you create for future generations. Writing a memoir can seem a tall task but a biographical professional can make the process easy and enjoyable. You just have to tell your story, while the biographer takes care of transcription, editing, photo management, and production of the book.
Whatever your chosen medium, giving those old boxes new life can not only help cut down on clutter, but preserve family artifacts and the stories that come with them.
If you are interested in getting help with a family history project, searching members of the Biographers Guild of Greater New York is a great place to start.
Clémence Scouten, based in the Philadelphia area, helps people curate and preserve their family history stories and materials, providing an array of end products from archived collections to memoirs.