Bequeath the Story With Your Photos and Heirlooms

I'm writing some family history background to include in the archival envelopes at back of the new shadow boxes I had made this year. 

You can do something similar by putting an envelope or archival sleeve behind any photo frame and tucking in the story to go with the photo or object.

Top right, the page I wrote about the World War II military service of Dad (Harold Burk, 1909-1978). I slipped this page into the sleeve of his shadow box. For other photos, I'll paste a clear sleeve to the back of the frame and slip in a story or three.

Below that, part of the write-up for the shadow box I had made for the childhood jewelry of my Mom and her twin sister (Daisy Schwartz Burk and Dorothy Helen Schwartz). It's tucked into the sleeve behind the frame, too.

I signed and dated these write-ups for the sake of future generations. I included copies of Dad's discharge papers and, at the suggest of my Sis, I will slip a letter or note into the back of Mom's shadow box to show her signature.

There's room for even more in the envelopes behind the frames. My challenge is to avoid overloading the envelopes and overwhelming those who will inherit these frames in the future!

Even taping a paragraph or two to the back of a frame will be a good start to bequeathing a story with your photo or heirloom. I'm also writing a quick story to staple to underside of some wooden furniture so heirs know how they came into the family, when, and why. The last thing I want is for stories to be lost to those who come after.

Framing the Childhood Jewelry of Mom and Her Twin

This elegant shadow box, in the works for two months, features the childhood jewelry of Mom (Daisy Schwartz Burk, 1919-1981) and her twin sister (Dorothy Helen Schwartz, 1919-2001). The creative design and meticulous archival framing were done by a truly terrific custom frame store in my area. 

All the jewelry items were gently cleaned and then carefully hand-stitched to the ecru linen background in a graceful arrangement. The 1920s photo, printed by Mpix, should look great for a century or longer behind high quality museum glass. The finishing touch: name/date plaques that identify Mom and Auntie and their birth/death years.

On the back is an archival envelope for storing a few photos, letters, and other documents related to these beloved ancestors, including a page of background about the jewelry items. Sis wants to include an old note with Mom's signature, too. Great idea!

Without question, this is an expensive archival solution to keeping special heirloom items safe and accessible. But off-the-shelf shadow boxes are widely available and less expensive if you want to try creating your own display of ancestral heirlooms.

For additional ideas about documenting and preserving ancestral items and other genealogical materials, please see my book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past.

Shadow Box Honoring Dad's WWII Service

Dad (Harold D. Burk, 1909-1978) served in the US Army from March, 1942 to October, 1945. Because he could type, he was assigned as a personnel clerk with the 3163d Signal Service Company, which supported combat troops in Europe by maintaining communication lines. When Dad came home after World War II ended, he put away his military stuff, concentrating on family life and starting a small business.

Preserving items from Dad's military days

Recently, I brought his wartime memorabilia, plus a 5x7 black/white photo of Dad in uniform, to a terrific custom frame shop for mounting in a specially-designed shadow box. I was willing to invest a few hundred dollars to professionally preserve items from Dad's military days and make them look important and worth saving, for the sake of future generations.

My Sis and I are incredibly thrilled with the results! The framers suggested the creative arrangement shown at top. The background is cream linen, with the photo inset by carefully cutting through the backing, to add a dimensional look. 

All items were mounted using archival methods and materials, and the museum glass protects the contents from fading. The wooden frame is a deep, rich black.

We had a nameplate engraved with Dad's name and dates, and it was tacked to the frame for a finishing touch.

Sharing the story

On the back will be a clear archival envelope where I can store other WWII photos of Dad and a written story about his military service. 

Inside the envelope, I'm including a detailed description of the items in the shadow box (clockwise from top right):

• US Army rifle marksmanship badge
• European Theater campaign service ribbon
• Pair of dice (used during Dad's time off)
• Dog tag
• Brass insignia and buttons of US Army and Signal Corps
• Dog tag
• Shoulder patch for his Signal Corps unit

Two years ago, when I created a bite-sized photo book about military ancestors in my family tree, I explained the symbolism of that colorful patch.

The framer is currently fashioning a custom shadow box for my Mom's and my Aunt's childhood jewelry. More about this very soon.

Professional framing is not in everybody's budget, and readymade shadow boxes are readily available in stores like Michael's as well as online. My goal is archival preservation, not just display, so I decided to move up to the more costly  professional solution for Dad's and Mom's special items.

Halfway Through 2025's Genealogical Journey of Sharing

Now midway through my 27th year of genealogy fascination and discoveries, I've been spending time on projects to share family history. This focus sets the direction for much of my research, to fill in gaps and confirm details for ancestors in my family tree and hubby's family tree. 

One way I've been sharing in 2025 is by adding and connecting hundreds of ancestor profiles on the free collaborative tree at WikiTree. I appreciate the ability to categorize ancestors (by birthplace or by burial place or many other categories) and to add a sticker to highlight a specific aspect of an ancestor's life.

At top, part of the WikiTree profile I created for Alice Adelaide Slatter, a little girl from my husband's family tree. She unfortunately died young, as you can see from the special sticker. This is one of the very few stickers I can "code" from memory, because I make a special effort to honor the memory of little ones who were sadly lost too soon. 

Of course I'm continuing to add/flesh out ancestor profiles on Find a Grave, Ancestry, and MyHeritage. No deadlines, no specific goals, just adding and connecting as I follow where the genealogical trail leads me. Plus I'm redoing newspaper research using fresh databases to look for additional social and news items about key ancestors.

Having professional shadowboxes made for Dad's and Mom's memorabilia, a very special way to share, has been a highlight of 2025. I'll post more about these in a few days.

For military veterans, I've got a baker's dozen list of ancestors waiting to commemorate on Fold3 memorial pages, after I receive their US Veterans Administration files. I hope when I finally receive the files that they will be informative. Fingers crossed to complete this by the end of 2025.

I'm still drafting bite-sized ancestor bios to post as memories on Family Search. Note that when I include a photo these days, I put on it a caption and attribution ("courtesy of Wood family" for instance) to make the identification and source permanent. Image here shows a small sample of stories and photos I've put on FamilySearch as memories. Each story starts with a brief headline, usually ancestor name and dates.

In addition, I'm testing colors (above) for a surname word cloud for the bite-sized family history booklet I'm writing about a branch of Wood in-laws. Later this booklet will be turned into a photo book, following these ancestors' lives from the start of the 1900s to the late 1960s.

On this genealogy blog, the top five most read posts from Jan-June 2025 were:

• Genealogy bloggers who are also on BlueSky
• New indexes to New York City digitized vital records
• Change, monitor, or hands off the Family Search family tree?
• What will happen to once-treasured silverware and china?
• Learn for free from big genealogy sites' blogs/videos