Preserving Your Family History: Displaying Treasures

***This post may contain affiliate links. Gaylord has provided the products mentioned in these posts for free but all opinions are my own***

Sharing your treasures is something that I think all of us do. We want to show off that amazing ball that we caught and got signed at the baseball game or that doll we treasured throughout our childhood. Today's post covers ways that you can showcase those prized possessions but care for them at the same time. 

Preserving the history on the Schmidt (Dad's mom) side of the family has always been a monumental task. It was a huge family with my grandmother being one of 10 kids. This side of the family has always been an active one with big family reunions every year. I've always wanted to bring some of the older photographs and documents to these reunions but until recently there wasn't a great way to do that and protect them.

One new product that Gaylord Archival offers are the Print & Photo Display Boards. These display boards are made with a mat board backing and a polyester cover. You're able to put your photographs and documents inside so they're protected but people can still see them. I'm excited to use these this summer to bring photographs to our family reunion. I would change one thing with these, they're sealed on one side and open on the other. I would love for it to have a self-locking feature like some of the other products. Some of my photographs are slightly curved and make it pop open.

Where there is a sports lover there is usually a prized ball or card. For my brother it comes in the form a baseball. He enjoys displaying the signed baseball so I wanted to make sure to protect it but give him a nice means to display it by. So I used the League Baseball Display Case. The wood base and acrylic vitrine fit perfectly together and keep out any dust. You can get this gorgeous display case for every sort of sports ball, helmet and even bats.

While I'm glad my brother enjoyed being able to show off his prize baseball it's time to tackle something I know lots of us ladies love to show off, our dolls. While there are some dolls that should really stay in the basement locked away in boxes because they're frightening there are some that definitely should be preserved and shared. For me my American Girl dolls are such dolls. 

Gaylord Archival has a few different ways to show off your prize dolls. For those who just want to display their dolls but not necessarily preserve and protect I would suggest a doll stand. I went with the Doll Stand for 20–30"H Chubby Waisted Dolls. As you can see I'm able to show off Felicity in all her fabulous glory. 

Don't worry as I mentioned before there are definitely options if you want to really protect your dolls. Let me tell you there are options! I'm a fan of the Designer Doll Box with Hourglass Windows. Since the American Girl dolls have some heft to them (sorry Felicity!) I like the extra support that the hourglass provides but allows you to see the doll on every side.

One thing you might not think about when it comes to your dolls is the movable eyes. You actually want to make sure that these get stored upright and the eyes are open. If they stay on their back it can actually damage the eyes in the long run. I'm going to enjoy being able to show my niece these dolls and keep them safe until she's old enough to take of them properly. While my dolls are all larger if you're in need of something to show your smaller dolls there are plenty of options as well. There are even options where you can store multiple dolls in one divided box.

Now that I've shared what treasures I wanted to display for my family, do have any treasures that you would display? I'd love to hear what they are! Don't forget to check out the previous posts about preserving your photographs and documents (that's where the giveaway is!!)

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