HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR HEIRLOOMS: FINDING, SELECTING, DISPLAYING

 

As this last week and weekend of summer comes and goes, I will be writing about a new installment for my Blog spot. Therefore, to give myself some much needed time to write and research, the next four posts follows, "Reintroducing How to Create a Family Museum."

Sometimes it is good to review because, as I have found myself, I had missed something the first time I read it or watched it. Better to do it again rather than never have done it at all.  



 

 

 

The key word is organization - one box at a time. It is overwhelming at first, but as they say, "Rome wasn't built in a day."

The finding is the easy part. It's all there; just look and you will find it. And as you do, you will be surprised at the things that were saved for one reason or another. For instance, my husband saved all of his naval uniforms. Why? It's not as if he was going to mop the deck anytime in the future. And he was so skinny thirty-five years ago! So out of that collection he picked his navy hats and the photograph of himself when he made Chief Petty Officer.

The selecting part takes time.

Picking the items out, deciding between one or more of the heirlooms, dividing the space equally, and sometimes having to draw the line as to who gets to put what where and how many. When it came to my Barbie dolls, I wanted to put all of them into the museum, along with their kitchen set and dress case. Woe was me to have to select. But I did. And I got it all in and still had room for more.

There is an art to display. Look at a large museum's intimate collections, department store windows, or antique shops. The space you have will dictate how you will display your heirlooms. Organize items in groups. The main idea is to express through display the meaning behind the person, place, thing and event. You want to invite your guests to look closely at your collections, to touch them, encouraging them to ask questions so you can tell your stories.

However you go about putting your family museum together, find, select and display a good cross section of heirlooms because variety is the spice of life.

     "Any color, so long as it's red, is the color that suits me best,
       though I will allow there is much to be said for yellow and
       green and the rest."                   Eugene Field


Next Post: Where to Begin