This open access book uses new methodologies from the history and sociology of emotions to analyse why people select specific tokens of family inheritance, and how this influences personal identity, cultural heritage, and national memory.

Much of our cultural heritage emerges from family histories – with many of the objects curated in museums, stories passed between generations, and monuments marking notable figures being the direct product of familial collections, donations, and investments. This edited collection uses emotion as an analytical tool to interpret such behaviours, and offers novel ways to investigate how and why family inheritances from a range of social, racial, and ethnic groups maintain their cultural power, as they move through time and from the private to the public spheres.

Drawing on a variety of case studies, and exploring items ranging from Victorian library chairs, to quilts, religious texts, and pieces of intergenerational writing – this volume considers the role of objects and inheritances in the emotional lives of individuals and families, and acknowledges them as agents in the creation of histories and identities. Combining insight from scholars of the history of emotions with that of historians and researchers situated outside the academy, this collection allows fresh insights on family history and material culture to emerge.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by UK Research and Innovation.

An invaluable addition to our thinking about family history. What do we inherit with the objects that come down to us from the past, freighted, as they are, with a cargo of feelings, as well as historical connections and meanings? This fascinating collection is full of insights for both historians and practitioners alike. * Alison Light, Honorary Fellow in History and English, Pembroke College, Oxford, UK *
This fascinating collection of essays offers new insights into the way in which families construct and have constructed their memories and identities ... There are 24 separate contributions in the book and there isn’t enough space to do justice to them all here, so I will just have to recommend reading Inheriting the Family. * Family & Community History *

Katie Barclay is the Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions and Associate Professor in History, University of Adelaide, Australia.

Ashley Barnwell is a Senior Research Fellow in Sociology at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Joanne Begiato is a Professor of History and Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Exchange at Oxford Brookes University, UK.

Tanya Evans is Director of the Centre for Applied History and Associate Professor at Macquarie University, Australia.

Laura King is Associate Professor of Modern British History at the University of Leeds, UK.