Tips for Heritage Albums and Getting Started

TIPS FOR HERITAGE ALBUMS AND GETTING STARTED

Adding Family History, Culture, and Traditions

Creating a heritage scrapbook is telling your family story by using photographs, memorabilia, documents, family memories and stories which can be displayed singly or in combination in your scrapbook to tell your ancestors' life stories. With each family history document or memorabilia, intertwine the item displayed into the journaled story about the person.

• Add family history documents associated with person

o Birth / Baptismal/ Marriage/ Death certificate

o Census Records

Display a copy of your family's census sheet in your heritage scrapbook and use the census records to help you:

 Find birthplace and birthdate of head of household, his children and parents

 Identify family relationships

 Find ancestor as a child to identify his parents.

 Learn year of immigration, naturalization status, and birthplace of parents.

 Learn veteran status to request pension records.

 Learn ancestor's address so that you can photograph ancestral house.

 Learn ancestor's occupation.

o Wedding Invitation

o Military records.

o School records

o Work records

o Letters

o Family Bible Notations

o Immigration Records - Passenger Lists

o Historical Postcard of town where person lived.

o Map of ancestral town or country.

 1895 U. S. Atlas Map

 Global Ancestry Map Center

 Historical Newspaper articles



Historic Newspaper Collection

 Headlines of the day person was born

 Birth announcement

 Wedding announcement

 Death notice

 Accomplishments

 Headlines of important events during person's life



• Add photographs of family history items associated with person

o Photograph of church where ancestor married

o Photograph of wedding dress

o Photograph of ancestral house

o Photograph of items person crafted (quilt, crochet work, clothes, needlework)

o Photograph of important landmark in ancestral town

o Photograph, clip-art or stickers of ancestor's occupational objects. Examples:

 Blacksmith shop or anvil for blacksmith or wheelwright

 Shoe shop or old-fashioned shoe for a shoemaker

 Train for train conductor or train brakeman

 Old-fashioned accounting ledger sheets for accountant or bookkeeper

o Photograph of military medals

o Photograph of jewelry including rings, earrings, or pins.

o Recipe for ethnic food


If the family history memorabilia is small enough, mount it on the scrapbook page with a memorabilia pocket. Otherwise, take a photo of the item and use it on your page.