April 2012 Family Archivist: Finding Missing Heirlooms

Ask the Archivist: Heirloom Hunting

Q. How would genealogists know what family heirlooms they’re missing?
A. Listen to stories and review old photo albums with artifacts in mind. Then ask around: “I wonder where that old [insert object] went to?” A discussion may uncover leads.

Q. Where do heirlooms that get separated from their families usually end up?
A. As much as 90 percent of museum-quality documents are in private collections. But items that wouldn’t be considered museum-quality may be of urgent importance to genealogists—and many are with antique dealers or people who rescue heirlooms from yard sales and try to find their owners.

Q. How can genealogists find lost documents and photographs?
A. People use sites such as GenForum to find other descendants who may have inherited items. I’ve also heard of researchers tracking down second wives to recover orphaned heirlooms. Often, these items don’t mean as much to subsequent spouses because it’s not their family, and the item can be bought or traded for easily.

Websites such as DeadFred collect photos with names on them and offer scans for free. You can check eBay listings, too, but those are up for a short time and the description may not offer enough detail to identify your orphaned heirloom. Our family heirloom exchange advertises heirloom items with family connections that are for sale from antique dealers and others. We give all surnames associated with each item. Members of our service are notified if new items match their surname list.

Q. Tell us about an item you reunited with a family.
A. We still get Christmas cards from a lady in California who discovered her grandfather’s WWI sword on our site three years ago. Another family found a yearbook from 1919; their grandchild was named after the person in the yearbook.

Q. What’s in your inventory now?

Archival Action: automate your heirloom search

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