Antique Roadshow on PBS allows people to share various items they either collected or inherited. Sometimes something that was only marginally valued becomes more important once people find out its value.

Do you have items tucked away in boxes and attics that are an important part of your heritage? Maybe it’s time to bring them into your life. One way to do that is by creating a vignette of pieces and photos from your family’s past. You can focus on one person or one theme, and end up actually telling a story.

This table display shows the history of a great grandfather who spent his life studying butterflies. Some of his old reference books stacked in one corner hold his hand-written notebooks and the magnifying glass he used for field study. A shadowbox with some of the butterflies he collected leans against a panel. The pride of his tools – the brass microscope – stands in the center of the display. If the family added a few photos, the vignette could be a complete story of one relative’s life.

When planning, choose a theme or person to focus on to make a story rather than an unconnected display. Did your grandmother quilt? How about one of her quilts under her old sewing basket with some unfinished quilt squares lying on top? Add in a photo of grandma in her spare room with one of her quilts on the bed and you’re on your way to another story.

Whatever your heritage, bring it into your own present by creating a vignette. Your family’s past is waiting for you to share it with others.