Heritage albums weave photos, documents and traditions into keepsakes your relatives will treasure.

Examples of items you should try to include in your heritage album:

• pictures of family members with names and relationships to you

• copies of official documents: birth, death, baptismal and marriage certificates; naturalization papers, land deeds

• timelines of major facts about the family: employment history, residences, births, deaths, marriages

• personal histories provided by interviews, other relatives, family traditions, anecdotes and historical documents

• mementos to be shared with future generations, such as war medals and military dog tags, hospital birth bracelets and locks of hair (See "Preserving Memories" in the February 2002 Family Tree Magazine for ways to display memorabilia in an album.)

• significant historical, social and political events that affected the lives of the family you're documenting

• information about family hobbies or special talents