Creating a custom heirloom photo book

21 May 2020

One of the readers of my genealogy blog, Jacqueline Krieps Schattner, sent me a link to a post she wrote recently on her genealogy blog, Seeds to Tree, that described the decluttering she’s been doing during the pandemic (she’s used her time very well!). The blog post also presented an idea that I think is absolutely genius, so I asked her permission to write about it here (and on my genealogy blog, Organize Your Family History).

Jacquie’s decluttering work has been very thorough during the pandemic. She got so much done that she turned her attention to the family treasures around her home. In her post, Pandemic De-Cluttering and a Heirloom Book, Jacquie described taking stock of some of the treasures she has collected over 40 years of marriage (and inherited from her parents and grandparents). In thinking about what will happen to these heirlooms if she and her husband were to downsize or were not around to tell the stories, she points out something very wise:

Heirlooms without stories are just stuff.

Jacquie came up with a great solution to the problem. She created a book with photos of each of their heirlooms complete with captions that capture their stories. That way, when the time comes, her daughters will be able to make decisions about which of these heirlooms they would like to keep. She titled the book, Why Did We Save This?

Jacquie spells out in detail how she went about creating the book (via Shutterfly) and what it looks like, and what she’s done with the copies. This is such a helpful idea that I’m thrilled to share it!

Tagged with: estate organizing, heirlooms