You have posted a topic dear to my heart. I have gone thru my mother's belongs recently - she sewed garments not quilts, but the thoughts you have expressed hit home.
I, personally, have 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper with notes on them that I keep in a stack and reuse. I have written on them what goes where and I get those pages out and put them in my sewing room every time my husband and I travel in a car on long vacations. You just never know.
My messages say things like (1) give this quilt to my sister-in-law, (2) offer these fabrics to my on-line quilting guild (includes the website and my password to post), (3) send these scraps in a flat rate box to xxx (my friend that makes scrappy quilts and crumb blocks - has her name and address included), and (4) these tops were made by our great-grandmother xxx - send to my cousin xxx in Town, USA, etc. It doesn't take long to distribute these notes (and some are inside the boxes and stay there permanently) but I'm sure they will be very useful.