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Boy did I get a huge wake up call last week! For about 24 hours I lost access to all my Blogger content: published and draft posts, comments, statistics, etc.  I nearly had a heart attack when I got this email: I thought it was a scam but at least I had the presence of mind to not click anything in the email itself. Instead, I went to the Blogger dashboard I already had open and clicked "View Blog."  They really had taken it down! I quickly read through what they considered "Malware and Similar Malicious Content," and was confident that there was no way I had violated the terms. My only recourse was to click the "Request Review" button. Reviews were said to take an average of 10 days but could be longer depending on the issue. I never received a confirmation email that I requested the review. Nothing! All I could do was wait. I went to the GeneaBloggers Facebook page to ask if anyone else had experienced anything like this and how long it took to resolve....
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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.

 


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  1. AnonymousMay 7, 2026 at 12:53 PM

    Sandra Robertson --the Stirpes article gives many examples of family heirlooms as a means of starting the writing process. I have used some of my treasured heirlooms to write about the person who owned the item as it shows an aspect of their life.

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    1. Nancy Gilbride CaseyMay 17, 2026 at 9:23 AM

      Sandra, you are doing a great job using heirlooms and I'm sure that your family is finding the stories very interesting and enlightening. They will never look at those items the same way again! Thanks for reading.

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