What do you do with them? I'm the lucky recipient of huge portraits in heavy, ornate frames, of my great grandparents and a few others and have been toting them around for years. While they may have looked fine hanging in a large, old house, they certainly don't fit into our small, contemporary cottage. Previously, we had lived in houses with plenty of storage space but now we don't. Nobody else wants them, of course, but I can't just toss them, either. Anyone else stuck with these? Right now I have them wrapped and standing in the guest room closet, taking up valuable space. Don't have room for them in the garage and it's probably too damp out there, anyway.

Pat, I had the same situation with family's photos in my mother's possession. I gave away as many as I could to other family members and then took the rest out of their big frames, put them into an album and put them away with the rest of the family photos. I gave away the frames to someone who liked that style. The photos take up a bit of room but that's a sacrifice I am willing to make. It's a lot less room than they used to take up.

Julianne

Well, these are huge and they are paintings rather than photographs. One of them, of a great uncle, I sent to a distant cousin in CA because he has the sword worn in the portrait, so it would have more meaning for him.

Oh, well, I guess I'll just keep them in the closet and, when I die, let the kids figure it out. They are my fathers family, and he is gone. My mother is still alive and she gave them to me because I'm the eldest, I guess.

You are right, Leone! There must be some 'collectors' in the family. Most of the collectors are older than I, however. I need to find some of shorter tooth.

Sorry, I didn't realize that you were talking about paintings! That certainly is different. I agree, searching the family for an interested relative makes the most sense.

Julianne

I seem to be the family repository for family memorabilia, too! I have lots of photographs (glad they aren't paintings), many of whom I don't have a clue who they are. I've been trying to jetisson (sp?) stuff from my dad's house and not take it back to my own house which already has too much stuff. Lucikly some of my cousins and their kids have loved getting Grandma's old china, or Great Grandma's cut glass, etc. Now I will start culling these photographs and send them to my relatives who are much more into collecting than I am. I just can't picture my sons wanting most of this stuff and don't want to leave it for them to clean out.
I do want to keep the family antiques, like 3 pieces of furniture custom made for some ancestor of my dad's around 1800. I hope those stay in the family, and I'm going to tell my kids that if they don't want those things, they need to contact my cousins and their kids on my dad's side and give them to whomever is a lover of antiques, especially family heirlooms.
We Americans acquire an awful lot of stuff...... Lynn

Not to mention the Queen's furniture in Derek's room at the SNF!

Yes, you should think very carefully about where the Queen's furniture should go. Perhaps to Kate Middleton for a wedding present??!! Lynn

I have a feeling that Kate Middleton will have had quite enough of anything having to do with the Queen by now. Good heavens, what a role to fill.

For some reason, my dad started giving me a bunch of family heirlooms and antiques a few years ago--me, the only one of four kids with no children. Now I get to figure out where it goes from me.

Julianne

Hopefully you have cousins, neices and nephews who would each love to have some of the stuff. Give it to them now so they can enjoy it and then they can figure out what to do with it! (except for the things you are still enjoying) Lynn

There is always a history buff in each family. I am it in my family. I have a family tree with over 2200 people in it and I am always looking for old photos..the older, the better. We have tried to accumulate old photos, get them up at Ancestry and let the family know where to find them. Others have made copies and sent out photos to some of the family...still others have made CDs to pass out with all the photos on them.

I also scrapbook all the old photos and keep them in a family tree heirloom book. All the rest get, sorted, put into ziplock bags and stored away in a dry enviroment. Get those photos out of those albums with the sticky backs...they will eat your photos!

If you have 2200 people in your family tree I am going to send you the photos I don't recognize or want. With that many people in your family, there's bound to be someone you are related to whose photos I have. Please send your mailing address! Lynn