Heirloom Books: Family Memory, Genealogy, and English Archives, c.1450–1850

Abstract

Abstract This article examines English primers, bibles and prayer books which were passed down within families and preserved as heirlooms between c.1450 and 1850. Such books attest to the evolution of memorial practices before and after the Reformation, and to the continuities which enabled people to navigate the theological, ecclesiastical and cultural upheavals that fundamentally reconstituted the function and meaning of these texts. Used to record births, marriages and deaths, the books illuminate neglected features of the early modern genealogical imagination and suggest its expanding social reach. Their migration into libraries and public repositories highlights the agency of the family in the social history of the archive, demonstrating the vital role played by domestic cultures of record-keeping and generational transmission in its creation, transformation and use over time.