Janet Few encourages us to take a look at our heirlooms and consider preserving the stories attached to them. In this way, it is much more likely these items will be treasured by the generations that come after us
OBJECTS OF GENEALOGICAL DESIRE
What is an heirloom? It is something that we treasure because of its family significance. It is an item that has been, or will be, handed down within the family. Why is this? It is because it is something that brings back memories of a person, an event or a place. Without any associated narrative, heirlooms are examples of material culture. To put it bluntly, they are things. Some are attractive, some are useful, other heirlooms are neither but their appearance and utility are not why we keep them; they are important to us because of their associations.
Unless we know that story, an object that is visually pleasing or serves a useful purpose might provoke a positive response but we are unlikely to have an emotional attachment to it and it won’t be the item that we save if the house is burning down. Without the stories that are attached to those items, much of their significance is lost.
We have all seen medals, engraved items and old photographs for sale on internet sites and in antique shops – items that are remnants of past lives and which we, as genealogists, feel that someone should be cherishing. They do have a curiosity value for us but as most of them have no stories attached, they are no longer precious. Family historians are used to telling the stories of our ancestors; we need to preserve the stories of our treasured possessions too. I would encourage you to take a forensic look at heirlooms that are important to you and tell their stories, so that those items are more likely to be treasured by future generations.
Weakening links?
We are the custodians of heirlooms that are currently in our possession. Over the years, collections of heirlooms are passed on but in the process are curated and weeded. Each death, each house move, leads to a potential slimming down of the family archive. What is kept and what is lost depends on the temperament of the current curator; some people do not feel the pull of heirloom culture. It also depends on their personal association with the items, or the people connected to them. With the passing of generations, the links to past family members weaken, particularly if the custodian did not know the owner of the item personally.
