Grandma's Ex-Boyfriends' Cigarettes, "Prison Rings," And 46 Other Family Heirlooms That Should Really Be In A Museum
Recently, we asked the BuzzFeed Community what the coolest thing they'd ever inherited was. Here are some of the most fascinating, heartwarming, and meaningful responses:
1.Cigarettes from all of grandma's past lovers
"My grandma collected cigarettes from every person she dated with their signatures on it and stored them in an old Sucrets box. My grandpa even has one!"
2.An Apollo contribution token
"I inherited my grandfather's Apollo contribution token. He was an engineer on the Lunar Rover team at NASA for the Apollo missions. The metal in the token was onboard during man’s first flight to the moon."
3.A high school yearbook
"I inherited my grandma's high school yearbook. I found out she was her school's hottie: Almost every person that signed her yearbook wrote, 'Take it easy on those boys,' or mentioned one of her boyfriends or the wild times they had. She was voted 'cutest' and her yearbook quote is FABULOUS!"
4.A cookie jar
"A cookie jar. It may seem trivial, but my grandma always had freshly baked cookies in the jar whenever we went to visit. When she got older and could no longer bake, she would still make sure it was always stocked with fresh store-bought cookies for our visits. She passed away in March and now it means even more to me."
5.A sheriff's badge
"My grandma was a deputy sheriff in the 1950s. I inherited her badge."
6.A brain in a jar
"My grandpa was a human anatomy and physiology professor, and he gave me a brain in a jar."
7. Objects that the kids in the family swallowed
8.A raincoat
"My grandpa gave me a raincoat belonging to another American back in World War II. The story goes that this guy tried to escape from the jail my grandpa was in charge of, and my grandpa went after him, grabbed him by the back of this raincoat, and dragged him back to jail. In true form, my grandpa kept the raincoat as a souvenir."
9.Cookbooks from the Great Depression
"I inherited a collection of cookbooks and recipes from my Gigi (great-grandmother) from the Great Depression/WWII era."
10.A 4-foot-tall stuffed Santa
"My Grandma won him in a Bingo game in the '60s and got really pissed off she didn’t get any money, so she was determined to 'get her money' out of the Santa. Anytime someone new came over, she would haul that thing out like a grandchild to show them — even if it wasn’t Christmas — and complain about how they took her money even though she still played Bingo religiously on Wednesday nights until she died. For some reason, I absolutely loved it from the time I was a kid. I spent many years hoping to get the big Santa one day. She gave it to me before she died when I got married as a wedding present. The card said 'He’s your problem now. I still want my money.' She was a hoot. He comes out right after Halloween and now my little one loves him!"
11.A ball of yarn
"My dad grew up in central Alabama with no running water and a difficult home life. His grandmother took over raising him until she passed. She was an elderly war widow and had nearly nothing, but my dad credits her with saving his life. Although they were poor, my grandmother saved enough to buy him a baseball glove, but couldn’t afford the ball to go with it. Instead, she rolled a ball out of her own homespun yarn for him to play with. He held on to it and passed it down to me."
12.A stuntman jacket
"My great uncle Porky was a motorcycle stuntman in the 1950s. He wore this amazing jacket adorned with the pins he collected from work and competitions!"
13.A piano
"I inherited my great-grandmother's piano. She put herself through music school in the early 1900s, played for the local movie theatre, and taught piano lessons. She saved and saved to buy her own piano, and eventually passed it down to my grandfather, and then he passed it down to me."
14.An ivy cutting
"My great-great-grandma smuggled over the first cutting of this ivy when she immigrated from Norway. She wanted a plant from home, so she hid the cutting in her bra to keep it moist! Cuttings of that same plant were passed down to my great-grandma who grew it on her farm, then to my grandma, my mom, and now me."
15.Knitting needles
"My great-grandmother who lived to be 102 gave me her knitting needles. She taught me how to knit one summer and I still use them today."
16.A tightrope walker's traveling chest
"My great-great-uncle ran away to join the circus in a time when circuses were a really big deal. He was a tightrope walker. I eventually inherited his traveling chest."
17.A postcard
"My grandmother always used to tell a story of how she and her best girlfriends traveled around Europe in the early '50s. A few years ago, she found the postcard she sent home to her parents talking about how much she was enjoying Rome. She passed it along to me knowing how much I loved hearing her stories."
18.A four-leaf clover
"On their honeymoon in Quebec City, my great-grandpa found a four-leaf clover and had it set in resin so his new bride could keep it forever. It's still bright green and in perfect condition."
19.Clothes made from parachutes of World War II UK soldiers
"My grandma left us the dresses and other clothes she made out of parachutes that UK soldiers used to land near her farm in the countryside. This was during to the Résistance (I'm French) during WWII."
20.A novel transcript
"I want to be a writer, and initially, I thought I was the only one in my family. But after my grandpa passed away, I was given the original (and only) transcript of a novel my great-grandfather wrote. It’s a fantasy novel with strong political commentary of the time. It was amazing."
21.A cedar chest
"My maternal great-grandfather hand-made a cedar chest from a tree on his family's farm in Tennessee. It's passed down to the oldest in each generation."
22.Old classics with a surprise handwritten note
"My great-grandfather had an extensive bookshelf filled with classics, and I truly explored it for the first time after his passing and found this little gem, written to his wife before leaving to fight in WWII. His note says, 'Dedicated to Kay — Upon awaiting my induction into the service of the imperialist masters and their war of extinction. February 3, 1943.'"
23.A newspaper reporting Lincoln's assassination
"My ancestor saved a newspaper reporting Lincoln's assassination in 1865. The two most interesting things about it are there are no pictures, and it's dated about two weeks after the assassination in DC because word traveled much slower back then."
24.A family tree map
"I inherited a map of our family tree, dating back to 839 AD!"
25.A ring
"I was my mother’s only daughter, so I was graciously gifted my grandma’s ring. She passed away a few years before I was born, but I was born on her birthday and named after her, so I've always felt we had a strong connection. Well, when my husband asked my parents for my hand, they gave him the ring to be updated to the style I would want. He had it custom-made into this incredibly beautiful and incredibly meaningful stunner!"
26.A trunk
"I was given my great-great-grandmother's trunk that carried all of her belongings when she immigrated to the US from Ireland. The inside lid is covered in pasted-on newspapers, the oldest dated 1910."
27.An attestation paper
"I inherited my great-great-grandfather's attestation form from when he joined the first World War."
28.A letter from Winston Churchill
"About 100 years ago, my great-great-grandfather wrote a book on his war theory. While he was technically right, we wouldn't know that until almost 50 years later. He sent a copy of the book to Winston Churchill, who wrote him a letter back that very politely called him a moron. It's framed and currently hangs in my grandmother's hallway. I've not inherited it yet, but I'm trying to convince her to give it to me because it's hilarious."
29.A painting
"My great-grandma was a painter. My family has three of her paintings left amongst us, and I have this still-life."
30.Earrings from a Holocaust survivor
"My mom gave me a pair of earrings that she inherited from my great-aunt. My great-aunt's husband served in the army during World War II, and his unit helped liberate a concentration camp. He had befriended one of the survivors, and some time later, he received a heartfelt thank you note and a pair of earrings to give to his wife. Those earrings now grace my jewelry box."
31.A Bible
"I inherited a beautiful illustrated Bible from my ancestors who immigrated to the US from Ireland in the 1800s. It has our family tree written in the front cover."
32.A camera
"I was given my grandfather's camera that he bought in Germany during World War II."
33.A hand-drawn portrait
"I inherited this portrait of my grandmother when she was young, drawn by my great-aunt in 1949."
34.A bridal wreath
"I have my great-great grandmother's bridal wreath. My great-great grandfather had it made for her during the last voyage he took before they were married in the late-19th century. It's made of hundreds of little shells carefully wired together to looks like a crown of flowers. It's been handed down along with a note she wrote about how he brought it back from 'the South Seas' for her."
35.A locket
"This locket was given to me after my mom passed away. It has a question mark on it, and she was proposed to with it. Now, I keep a picture of me and my mom inside it."
36.A charm bracelet
"My step-grandmother passed away when I was 14 and left me this amazing charm bracelet. There are charms from the places she visited, a bra charm, and a money charm from when she went to Vegas. It reminds me of all the good times she had."
37.A baptism gown
"My great-uncle gave me my great-great-grandfather’s baptism gown from the late-1880s."
38.A Civil War field amputation kit
"My paternal line of grandfathers have been doctors for generations — we can trace back to the 1600s even. My father has my great-great- (so on) grandfather's civil war field amputation kit. It's a gorgeous wooden box with gold corners and lock. The kit has a handsaw, thumb tourniquet, and other medical tools. What blows my mind is they all have wooden handles. This was before the world figured out that germs could hide in porous material."
39.Great-grandma's wedding pearls
"I got this string of pearls given to my great-grandmother from my great-grandfather on their wedding day in 1923. (Handwritten note by my late grandmother.)"
—rn85
40.Over 30 vintage Chanel pieces
"My aunt used to work for Chanel (and Gucci and Ferragamo) before she passed. Between her and my grandmother (her mother), I have over 30 vintage Chanel pieces including shoes, jewelry, clothing, and purses. I’m incredibly blessed to have had these fashionistas in my life and feel connected to them when I wear their items. I could never sell them, they're priceless."
41.Old LIFE Magazines
"My great uncle left me a bunch of old LIFE Magazines that only cost 20-50￠ back in the day. If you zoom in, some editions address things that are still relevant today, like the one on germ warfare." —addictivesoul
42. A 112-year-old music recital program
43.A 110-year-old Bible
44. "Prison rings"
45.A jewelry box
"I inherited my great grandmother’s old jewelry box when my grandfather died. I remember always looking at the broaches and necklaces as a little girl and loving it. I honestly think the majority of the jewelry is not worth much, but I got my 'something blue' and my 'something old' from the box when I got married. It’s so special to me that I keep it next to my bed and think of all those memories."
46.A quilt
"I got this wild quilt from my great-grandmother!"
47.A refrigerator magnet
"This is one of the magnets that used to hang on my great-grandmother's fridge. She died when I was in high school, and afterwards, she wanted her things laid out so her large family could pick things that were important to them. I got a couple of other things, but this is probably the most meaningful. Granny grew up in rural Oklahoma as a member of a poor farmer family. She was one of the first members of her family to graduate high school, worked as a cook in the school for years, and made sure all four of her children got college degrees. Despite growing up in a place where education was a luxury, she made it a necessity, and, aside from her family, it was the thing she valued the most in life. I'm the first person in the family to attend a state college, and next year, I'll be the first person on that side of the family to get a degree in a scientific field. The magnet was given to her as a gift when she worked at the school, and as a kid, I had always loved it. I've brought it with me to college to keep her with me on my journey and remind me how important education is."
48.And lastly, love letters
"When my grandpa passed, we found a bunch of old letters in his nightstand. The best ones were to my grandma, addressed to 'My Darling' and signed, 'It was always you.'"
Submission have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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