Rouviere Media

Here are some other suggestions for possible themes that can tie your heirlooms together in a display:

1.     Heirlooms, photographs, and documents about a major event such as World War II. My family, for example, has army medals, some World War II ration coupons, photographs,  telegrams and letters that could comprise a small display.

2.     Items from a business your family ran, such as a store or pharmacy, or an ancestors’ career.

3.     Heirlooms that represent your heritage.  If your ancestry is Greek American, for example, you may have enough family heirlooms that represent that heritage to put together a display.

4.     Migrations – Suppose your African American family history includes the great migration northward of the early 20th century, and you have items that commemorate that event or time period. Suppose your family went through Ellis Island when migrating to the United States and you have  passports, tickets, shipping documents or other items  from that experience. Putting them together in a display that depicts that story would be much more meaningful than just displaying them as standard Americana.

5.     Participation in major events – My husband, a news photographer, covered the turnover of the British colony of Hong Kong, Britain’s last colony, to China in 1997, and had a number of souvenirs of the event which would make an interesting small display.  A former neighbor of ours was the helicopter pilot for several U.S. presidents and received a Christmas card from them every year. He displays them now in the foyer of his home. Many people in Germany have souvenir chunks from the Berlin Wall which would be an interesting display along with family photographs and newspaper clippings of the time.

6.     Weddings, baptisms and confirmations, christenings, graduations, and adoptions are obvious candidates for family museum exhibits.

7.     Interesting or traumatic family events. Family museum displays don’t have to all be about positive things. They can chronicle trials during which your family persevered and triumphed – damaged items from a major flood, fire or hurricane or momentos of a family members’ prisoner of war  experience can be organized into a moving and inspirational family shrine.

8. Your or an ancestor’s hobbies or collections. My grandfather collected and played harmonicas, which I have placed in a shadow box that hangs near my family’s antique organ. This helps give the organ display a broader theme of music in the family.

9. Your themes can focus not just on the domestic life of your family,  but also on work, education, religion, social activity outside the household, and other non-domestic aspects of life.

10. The history of a single heirloom. One special heirloom may have a history that will enable you to build an entire exhibit. My family has a candlestick given to an ancestor by the king of Sweden when he was employed by the royal family. Researching the history of this candlestick could yield enough information for a small exhibit.

Next week, how to start putting your museum displays together...