Heirlooms
What the valley handed down A cabinet for the things families kept.
A stove from the Round Oak works. A lure carved in Dowagiac. A quilt pieced in a Porter Township farmhouse. Most of the valley’s history isn’t in a museum. It sits in a parlour, on a mantel, in a box in the attic. This is a cabinet for those things, and for the stories that came with them.
The cabinet
The piece
What it is, and where it was made
Kept by the family who owns it, named as they wish
The story in their own words: who used it, and how it came down to them
What the record says the maker, the works or the date, checked against the county histories and directories
The cabinet is empty, and waiting for the first piece. Every shelf will hold something a family in the valley still keeps, shown with its owner’s yes and in their words.
The kinds of thing we hope to see:
- A Round Oak stove, or anything cast in Dowagiac
- A Heddon lure, rod or tackle box
- A quilt, a sampler or a coverlet, with the hands that made it
- A family Bible with births and deaths written in
- A crock, a jug or a churn from a valley pottery
- A tool from the farm, the mill or the shop
- A letter, a diary, a ledger or a receipt
- A school medal, a band uniform, a lodge apron
Add a piece
- Tell us about it here. The page writes an email for you. Nothing is sent until you press send.
- Send a photograph or two. Attach them to the email: the whole thing, and any mark, label or signature on it.
- Nothing goes in the cabinet without your yes. We send you exactly what would appear. You can say no, change it, or leave your name off. We never show where you live.
Your draft is kept in this browser until you send it or start over. The site itself never receives it. We don’t value, buy or sell anything, and we never say where a piece is kept. If you know what valley factory made something, the museums and the Made in the Valley page may tell you more. Write to us directly at research@projectscroll.com.