I was talking with a friend recently, about what to do with family information such as bibles, ancestral charts, family histories, etc. if you don’t have children or family that cares about family history. There are so many genealogical societies clammering for this kind of information about families in their area. Don’t let all of your and previous generation’s hard work go to waste. Look for a library, genealogical society, or archives that will accept your collections. It is a matter of going on line to Google, or similar search engines and locating an appropriate repository. Type in a county and add historical society. You will be very surprised to see what pops up. If all else fails, contact Historical Society of Pennsylvania, if your family is from this State, and work with them to get your collection.
Telling family is not enough. Put it in your will. While you are at it, you should also make a record of all your holdings and where they should go when you are gone. If you take a walk around your home and look at those bowls from great grandma Grace that you definitely want to keep in the family, WRITE IT DOWN.
Carnaval glass bowl in dining room china closet was from great grandma Grace and is to go to Aunt Martha Jones when I die. Add information about the value of the piece if it has been appraised. Add some history about the item, if you know anything and put this all in a notebook with photos. Grandfather clock in living room on desk. The clock was a wedding present to grandpa and grandma Green in 1921, was given to son, Paul and wife in 1963 and was presented to daughter, Suzy Smith in 1985, at her wedding.
Too many times we have not planned for keeping heirlooms and genealogical information, so it gets thrown out or put up for sale, to be lost to that family forever. Plan ahead, we all gotta go sometime.