Re:   Philip McPherson's grandmother's house... what to do with it (*).

Just my opinion (**).  I may be wrong.  (Who wants pie?)

*  install drywall ceilings in the basement.
** But why?  Why not just paint everything a cheerful color?

*  tear out those bridging pieces and throw them away.
**  Not if you want the floors to remain braced.  They're there for a reason.

*  part of the strength of the structure.
** Yep.

* leave the ceiling as it is, and not hide it with drywall.
** Yep. Yep.

* weaken them by cutting too close to the nails...a loss of historic
material...future generations will hold us accountable.
*** Yep. Yep. Yep.

* thought we could take down those pieces, and trim them a little.
** My preservation philosophy..."Don't do big work for little reasons."  If
you must have a ceiling, for a lousy half inch, why not nail on lattice
strips to the bottoms of the joists as spacers?  You aren't loosing that
much headroom.  Better still, run the lattice strips the other way and call
it a trellis ceiling.  Then paint everything a cheerful color.

* He is modest and asked that his name not be used.
**  Me too.  --Rev. X