Future Heirloom: My Hubby's Military Memorabilia Shadow Box

Last year, I had a specialty frame shop create a custom archival shadow box to hold my Dad's military memorabilia from World War II. I tried an off-the-shelf shadow box but it wasn't nearly as beautiful and it wasn't nearly as sturdy as the custom version, which is entirely archival, even including an archival envelope attached to the back. Admittedly, custom is considerably more expensive, but I decided that the items were worthy of the expense.

This year, my husband and I returned to this wonderful frame shop to order a custom shadow box for his own US Army memorabilia. The framing experts listened carefully and respectfully as my hubby described the significance of each item and then together, we grouped items and adjusted the layout to tell the story of hubby's time in the military. 

At top, the "final" arrangement of his shoulder patches, buttons, badges, dog tag, and other items. In the center is a 5x7 black and white photo taken when Sgt. Wood was overseas in the US Army decades ago. 

The wooden frame will be black and the background behind the items will be ecru linen. The glass will be museum-quality, and each item will be attached to the linen backing with adhesive or sewing that is safe and removable. A brass plaque attached to the front of the frame will show my husband's full name.

We will put into the archival envelope an explanation of what each item means, plus a timeline of my hubby's military service, and his discharge papers and a few other photos from his time in the Army. This professional shadow box will be a focal point for saving the artifacts and facts of my husband's military service, to be passed down to future generations.

Full disclosure: One of my hubby's items was too damaged to include, so we found an identical item on eBay and bought it specifically for this shadow box. Why not?