Unlocking the Secrets: Exploring the Poetry Collection of a Loved One

Her poetry collection called to me for decades.

Have you ever been so drawn to a family heirloom, that it was as if there was a story inside it bursting to come out? Exploring it feels as if you’ve walked through a portal of knowing that was previously unavailable. There’s a word for that feeling.

Cáithnín is an Irish word that describes the feeling of interconnection of small things through time and space.

Never have I felt the feeling more than when I started preserving my Godmother’s 100-year-old handwritten poetry collection. This project set me on an unexpected journey of discovery and knowing, for which I am so grateful.

It was more than figuring out how to digitize this keepsake or choosing the best way to publish her poetry book. This journey revealed an unknown part of my Godmother’s life. Through her handwritten words, I unlocked a more complete story of her life and captured her life story.

In this post, I’m sharing the decisions I made, the resources I used, and the obstacles I overcame to uncover her legacy and create a new keepsake for future generations. I cover a lot, so feel free to jump around in the table of contents below.

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

Preserving a Handwritten Poetry Collection – A Journey of Love and Legacy

Years ago, my Godmother, Kate, gave me her cherished poetry collection.  She was going blind and could no longer read the small handwriting that filled the pages of her writing book.  My 18-year-old self promised to type them out and print them in a font size she could read.

She passed away a few years later, and I never completed the project.

Decades later, I realized preserving this keepsake meant more than just fulfilling my original promise. Preserving her poetry collection was an opportunity to preserve her legacy.

Kate was my grandmother’s first cousin, making her my cousin, twice removed. She was like a grandmother to me, although she had never married, nor did she have any nieces or nephews.

Kate was the last of her family line, and I am one of the few who remember her well enough to tell her story.

Reading Between the Lines Uncovers More of the Story

Handwriting is so much more expressive than the type-written word.  Until I studied my Godmother’s poetry book, I hadn’t realized how much meaning a pen’s pressure or the slant’s angle can portray.

As I explored these poems, I discovered her collection, written over decades, was not just a collection of poems. These carefully curated poems revealed a younger version of the grandmother-like woman I had known. 

This book was the unknown part of her story. This was a story about finding and losing love. 

I wanted to share my revelation with others in my family. I wanted them to discover her story in the pages of the book, just as I had. But, with the century-old pages crumbling, and the binding already frayed and broken, I had to figure out another way to preserve this collection and my Godmother’s legacy.

Deciding How to Best Preserve this Family Heirloom’s Story

To figure out how I should preserve this poetry book, I asked myself:

• Will this be for private/family use or do I want to make it commercially available? 
• Will I digitize “as is” using photos of the pages, or will I type it up in more of a book format?

Answering the first question was easy. Because this was more than a poetry book, selling what felt like our family history to strangers was a big “no-no” for me. I quickly decided it would be for private use only.

Answering the second question, however, was a little tougher. 

I tossed around the idea of taking high-quality photos or scanning the book’s original pages to create a near-exact replica of her book.  I could easily create this as a photo memory book using my printer or one of the many photo book services available online. 

I realized I was the missing link between the past and the future.  My connection to her story will help future family members see their connection.  

So, while the preservation of a family heirloom was my initial goal, the more I dug into the collection, the more I realized publishing her collection as a book for private use would allow me to preserve her poems, add context to her story, and make it available for interested family members.

Researching the Poetry Collection is a Must

I thought typing the poems would be the easy part. I wanted to preserve the integrity of Kate’s poetry collection and figured typing them out exactly as written would best honor the intent of her words.

In her original handwritten book, about half the nearly 100 poems were attributed to famous poets.  Rabindranath Tagore seemed to be a favorite, but she also included poems from William Shakespeare, Alfred Noyes, Rudyard Kipling, John Keats, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, to name a few. 

I assumed the poems with no attributes were her original words. I was wrong.  

So my plan to simply type out what my Godmother had written would not work. If I was going to publish this in book form, I needed to make sure that the poems were properly attributed to their original authors.

If you plan to publish a poem collection from one of your family members, I recommend you spend the time researching each poem.  In the early 1900s, writing poems in journals was a popular way to save favorite poems.  

Finding Author Attributes Provided Context and Clues

I used Google and newspapers.com to research each poem for authorship.  Sometimes, I would search for the title as she wrote it. But if I didn’t get a hit, I would try again using excerpts from the poems.  This extra step helped overcome misspellings or word variations that could impact my search.

Taking this extra time to research each poem revealed a few key points that impacted the direction of this book.

First, most of the unattributed poems were actually published works of famous poets, and not her original words as I had initially thought. Of the 95 poems I included, only nine were ultimately attributed to “unknown author,” which may or may not be my Godmother’s original poems.  Nonetheless, this finding added a layer of copyright issues I hadn’t considered before.

Second, some of what my Godmother had written were excerpts of poems rather than the entire poem. These carefully selected passages in the context of the larger collection provided an unexpected window into her thoughts and emotions.  I began to understand her story in a new way.

The Organ Barrel

I recall one poem in particular that she used twice.  Early in her collection, Kate beautifully hand-wrote a jaunty, upbeat selection of “The Barrel Organ” by Alfred Noyes. 

By the end of her poetry collection, her handwriting had become a little shakier, and the angles of her letters were sharper. The last poem in her collection was a reprisal of “The Barrel Organ”, but a different excerpt was selected. Reading it nearly broke me. I was overcome with thoughts of sadness, regret, and longing. My godmother lived quietly and alone. She and my grandmother had a falling out, over what I do not know. I realized what often came across as stubbornness or keeping score was the self-protective wall she had built up around her heart.

"There's an old and haggard demi-rep
It's ringing in her ears -
And if she hurries….."

Lastly, and one of the most surprising findings, was learning some of the authors were friends or family members.  Reading these intimate poems in the context of other family history adds an entirely different layer (& a little mystery!) to this collection. I’m not sure I’ll ever know the full story here, but I’m glad to have this richer understanding of who Kate was.

By taking the time to research each poem, I was able to provide insights and important context to help future readers understand her story. 

Pulling it Together | Formatting, Style Choices & Editorial Consistency

Once I had my collection typed up in a Word Document and felt confident in the author attributions, I decided I needed help to get over the next hurdle: formatting a poetry book.

I came across Emily Pulham on Instagram (@organizedwithemily).  She shared a post in which she published her grandmother’s poetry book using a 5X7 format.  I liked the idea of my Godmother’s poems being a small, bedside read. Something that could be picked up again and again. I contacted Emily and hired her to help me complete my book. 

The process was easy. I sent Emily my typed-up poems, and she formatted them using a self-publishing book platform.  She selected a few font combinations for me to review, and we decided on a sans-serif font for the poem title and author name and a serif font for the poems.

Style and Editorial Guidelines

Stylistically, I had wanted to maintain the indenting that my Godmother had used in her poem book, but seeing the poems in black and white revealed a lot of formatting inconsistencies that frankly drove me nuts. Worse, it was distracting from the meaning of the poems. We created a style guide to help guide our formatting choices and make the pages more consistent.

Creating a style guide for font style and use, as well as indenting, spacing, punctuation, and spelling helped keep stylistic decisions consistent.

Editorially, I used my Godmother’s original poem book as our editorial guide.  It was important to me to maintain the integrity of the original work while making it readable and accessible. 

I hired my niece who is an English Teacher to be the book’s editor. Using the style guide, the original poem book, and her background in the English language, she was able to expertly edit the document for me. 

She is also my goddaughter, so having her edit my Godmother’s poems felt like another Cáithnín moment.

Printing Versus Publishing

I’m not in the writing world, so I often use these terms interchangeably, but they are not the same thing.  Printing simply means preparing your files for print and physically putting your book together. Publishing has the additional role of marketing and distributing your book. Using self-publishing websites and outside help can blur these roles a bit, so you must be aware of them, especially if you are outsourcing your work, to clarify expectations.  

Choosing the Right Tools and Resources

I chose to hire someone to help me complete this project.  I started this project 30 years ago, so paying for an outside resource to be my book designer and keep me on track was worth it. Plus, she did a much better job than I could have done on my own.

However, if you do want to do a project like this on your own, there are many resources available depending on how hands-on you want to be. Following are some of the resources that I can speak to personally. I do not get paid for any of these products, I’m simply sharing my experience.

Photo Books

For DIY photo books, you can find several options online.  Two that I’ve personally used and found easy and intuitive are:

• Shutterfly
• Mimeo 

This is a really good choice if your book is mostly visual. There are options to add text, but it works best if the text is limited to short captions.

Because my book was more text than images, I chose not to go this route for my poetry collection book. However, in the future, I’ll be using one of these services to capture the photos I took of each page in my Godmother’s poem book for further digital preservation. 

Book Design

If you want to design a book yourself, you can try some online design programs like:

• Canva 
• Adobe InDesign

Canva is a very intuitive design platform with many templates that beginners and non-graphic artists will enjoy.  It has both paid and free options.  I’ve used it a lot, and have even ordered products I’ve designed from the platform. (There may be copyright concerns if using Canva, so read their terms, especially if you plan to sell your creations.) 

Adobe InDesign is a popular desktop publishing and page layout designing software.  Learning to use it takes a little effort and there is no free option; however, many graphic artists I’ve worked with prefer to work with it for the precision and control it has in designing their creations.

Pre-Made Templates

If you don’t want to design anything yourself but still want a beautiful way to present your story, you can purchase templates. These templates are designed so all you need to do is insert your words or photos and you can print out your finished product at home. 

I’ve bought some from The Creative Family Historian for a future project I’m planning. Emily Pulham, the designer for my book, also offers templates for sale on her website www.organizedwithemily.com.

Self-Publishing Platforms

Self-publishing platforms allow users to lay out their books, self-publish, and monetize them all in one place. You can find several online, such as:

• Blurb
• Lulu

I have used Blurb several times to create recipe books.  A couple were for school fundraisers. Another was a combined photo and family recipe book for my parent’s 50th anniversary.  I found it to be intuitive and easy, but the cost per book is on the pricier end. I have not personally used Lulu, but it is the platform that my godmother’s poetry book was built with and I’m very happy with the result!

If you want to create a book for sale in an online marketplace such as Kindle or Amazon, you’ll have to look elsewhere, I have no experience with that.

Assisted Self-publishing

Your last option is to do as I did and hire someone to do the legwork on self-publishing.  Emily did all my book layout design and some editing. She gave me two drafts to review (including the dust jacket). Once I approved the final draft, she set everything up with the publishing platform, and I placed my orders with her. 

If you need a bit more assistance, especially with curating and writing your story, you might want to consider hiring someone like Modern Heirloom Books.  

Founder Dawn Roode is an expert storyteller and writes beautiful Life Stories and Tribute books based on personal history interviews she conducts with her clients. She has packages at varying price points depending on the number of interviews. She also has less expensive DIY packages and tips to help you write your own story. I treated myself to a year of Dawn’s writing prompts in the hope of capturing my story.

Adding Legacy to Turn This Poetry Collection into a Family Keepsake

This keepsake poetry book is part artifact preservation and part historical family reference. 

Once I decided on the type of book I wanted to create and found the resources I needed to complete the project, I was free to add my insights, context, and family facts wherever I could.  Following are the places throughout the book where I turned this poetry collection into a family history keepsake.

Cover

I wanted a vintage-style cover, so I used a photo with a nostalgic vibe that I had taken myself. We used a flowy, scripted font for the title to give a nod to the handwritten collection.

Title

“Kate’s Poems” is how I have always referred to this collection.  I called my Godmother Kate, so using her full name didn’t seem to fit.

Subtitle

I used the subtitle to include her full name and clarified this as a collection rather than her original poetry. I figured future genealogists would appreciate this verification of her first, middle, and last name.

Author

I used both my full name and the full name of my niece (the editor) so future generations could see our connection.

Biography

In the book jacket, I included a brief biography and a photo. The photo I selected was from the timeframe she would have written these poems. I included as many genealogical facts as possible, such as dates, addresses, occupations, military ranks, and her cemetery location in her biography.  I wanted to give as many details as possible so that future genealogists could cross-check their findings. In addition, I wove in a few family recollections to add a little more context and interest.

Introduction

Here is where I took a few pages to add my narrative to these poems. Sharing my favorite moments with Kate and explaining the impact that reading these poems had on me gave this collection more personal context. 

I explained my stylistic and editorial choices because I wanted to make it clear to future family historians that these are my interpretations. I wanted them to know where my decisions came from, so they will have this understanding if they find themselves revisiting my work. 

Imagery

I had very few options for photos and imagery, however, each photo had clear intention.  For the dust jacket, I selected a photograph I had taken of my Godmother’s original poetry collection. The design on the front was a little more faded to allow for the book title, but the back had enough clarity so that any future “keeper of the things” could connect the physical original poem book with this one.  

The second photo I included (beyond the previously mentioned bio photo) was a suggestion from Emily.  It was the first page of Kate’s poem book, which almost served as a title page for her collection.  Using a black-and-white photograph here served two purposes. 

First, it makes the connection that this is from Kate’s handwritten book, and second, it makes our editorial job easier.  The phrase she wrote in her book was slightly different in the wording and origin of what we found in our research. Our dilemma was: do we put the correct translation and source, or do we type it as is and include a disclaimer?  It was such a powerful phrase to begin her collection; we didn’t want that to get lost.  Emily had the brilliant idea to just use an image of it. I’m glad we did. 

Overcoming Challenges 

Even though I was digitizing a previously handwritten poetry book, I encountered a few unexpected challenges. 

Maintaining the Integrity and Accuracy of the Original Poetry Collection

My guiding vision was to stay true to the words and the order of the poems to how my Godmother wrote them. However, sometimes the handwriting was challenging to read, and sometimes there were glaring spelling and grammatical errors. As much as I wanted to stay true to the words as she wrote them, there were times when I had to align the spelling, authorship, and grammar to what I had found in my research.

As mentioned, I also spent much more time researching each poem than I expected.  I did this for a few reasons. Most importantly, I wanted to ensure I had the correct author attribution.  But I also wanted to cross-check the spelling, grammar, and prose against what my Godmother wrote.  Unexpectedly, I realized that studying and learning the meaning behind the poems added a layer of context and meaning to the words I hadn’t previously understood. 

This additional research allowed me to better guide the reading experience for future readers in a way that made this book about Kate’s life rather than just a collection of poems. 

Managing Project Outcomes at the Beginning

Hiring someone to help me complete the project was a great way to “get out of my head” and force me to make these editorial decisions. Overall, the process from hiring Emily to getting the final book was about 4-6 months. 

While it was a very easy and fun process, there are three things that you should consider when outsourcing.

1. Privacy |  I intended for this to be a private book to preserve my Godmother’s handwritten poetry collection for future generations. As a family book with dates and locations, I did not want it available to strangers.  It’s worth reviewing the contract to clarify where the final product would “live”, who will have access to view and/or order it, and how it may or may not be used promotionally. Knowing these answers may impact your decisions.
2. Copyright | I am not an attorney or an expert in intellectual property, but I  bring this up as a point of awareness. When I realized some of these poems may not be in the public domain, keeping the book for private (not commercial) consumption became essential.  If your work is going to be monetized, pay attention to copyright and trademark use. (Not just content, but font, images, templates, and designs may not be allowed for commercial use.)
3. Ownership rights | While this wasn’t an issue for me because it was a private keepsake book, it did give me pause about contract language for ownership rights and distribution channels for copies of any books I may create in the future that I intend to sell online. Be sure you understand who owns the rights to your final product and how you will be compensated from various channels.

A Final Reflection | Expanding Our Intervals

Now that I’ve completed this project, I wonder what took me so long.  At the same time, I don’t think I could have completed this journey any sooner.  And it was a journey. 

Ultimately, this wasn’t just about creating a book containing Kate’s poems.  This preservation project was a powerful journey that reconnected me to a woman I loved who has long since passed. It not only opened a portal for me to see her in a different light, but it also challenged my thinking about what I knew about my family history. 

This project also gave me a shared experience with my niece. She edited this document when she was about the same age I was when Kate gave it to me.  I’m in awe of the depth of her understanding of the words on these pages. It truly makes my heart sing to know that I’ve connected her to one of her ancestors in this way.

My Godmother ended her poetry collection with the following excerpt:

“We are all condamnes”, as Victor Hugo says. “We are all under sentence of death, but with a sort of infinite reprieve. We have an interval and then
our place knows us no more. 
Some spend this interval in listlessness; some in high passions, the wisest at least among “the children of this earth” in art and song. For our one chance lies in expanding that interval, in getting as many pulsations as possible
into the given time.”

Walter Pater’s “The Renaissance Studies in Art and Poetry.”

I love knowing I’ve expanded her interval by preserving and sharing her poetry book with our family. 

Other Ideas to Preserve Family Heirlooms

If you’re interested in more tips and inspiration on preserving family history with keepsakes and heirlooms, check out some of these other posts.

• How to Safeguard Family Stories
• How to Unburden The Heirloom Nostalgia that Weigh You Down
• About Heirloom Explorer
• Create A Nostalgic Christmas Tree Your Family Will Love With Old Family Photos
• What is an Heirloom Explorer?