Tell Me a Story: Using Heirlooms and Artifacts to Inspire Your Writing

At a recent meeting of local genealogists, we discussed the article entitled, "Story Triggers: Finding Inspiration for Writing Family History"—about how our senses can help us tell family stories. The article's author, Sandra J. Crowley, noted that these triggers can fall into several categories aligned with the senses, such as visual, auditory, environmental, etc.1 

As I considered what I tend to gravitate to, I find that artifacts and heirlooms are what inspires me the most: a photo, a piece of crocheting, a baby book, an embroidery, etc. A single artifact can appeal to several senses at once: to the visual, the tactile, and even the olfactory. Think about a fragile marriage certificate that nearly crumbles to the touch, yet is still colorful, and carries a faint smell of old paper. 

I've found heirlooms and artifacts are rich inspiration for my writing, and penned an article, "Tell Me a Story: Using Heirlooms and Artifacts to Inspire Your Writing," for the Texas State Genealogical Society's journal, Stirpes, last year. I included many examples of how I used these items to write about the item's place in our family history, its owner's past, or as a starting point to tell a family story. You can read the article below.

I hope you're inspired to think about the artifacts you own and how they can help you tell the story of your own family. What will you write about? Tell me in the comments.

Until next time...

© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2026. All rights reserved. 

P.S. Our discussion group is called Connections. Sponsored by the Denton Public Library, it is modeled after the National Genealogical Society Quarterly's study groups, and uses articles from Stirpes, the Journal of the Texas State Genealogical Society, as the basis for discussion. TxSGS subsequently picked up the model and offers it to their Partner Societies as the Stirpes Study Group. For more info on this program, visit: https://www.txsgs.org/stirpes-study-group/

NOTES

1  Sandra J. Crowley, "Story Triggers: Finding Inspiration for Writing Family History," Stirpes: Journal of the Texas State Genealogical Society, 64:1 (March 2025), 46-48.