My family’s history and story is of great concern to, so much so that I intend to reconstruct the family tree as far as I can get in order to know who came before me.
In this same sense, I put a lot a value into objects that have reached through the generations. I have china, some furniture, personal items, photos and photo albums, etc.
Everything tells a piece of a story I wasn’t able to fully live through and instead just brushed me growing up.
It gives me a sense of belonging.
Hmm, I wonder if that’s regional, or just your grandmother specifically.
If you look at stuff from deep history, it might be a bit smaller (because people were smaller), but the 20th century furniture that makes up the bulk of what you’ll see on the secondhand market isn’t noticeably different.
More kinds of furniture used to be fashionable, that much is true, and if you don’t live in a house as big as your parents (because people tend to move into bigger places until they’re retired) getting rid of the china cabinet might be inevitable.