Looks like a great car with a great history. VERY cool that it has stayed in your family all these years. I have a pretty extensive history on my 1st Series 1949 Dodge that I keep in a three ring binder using archival quality clear sleeves. I thoroughly enjoy showing it to people at car shows and discussing the car with them, and they seem to enjoy it, too.
Regarding the "accessory attached to the bumpers" I think you're referring to the grille guard or, as it is sometimes known, the bumper overrider. It's primary purpose was to protect the grille from damage from careless people in parallel parking situations and also to prevent something never seen anymore known as "locking bumpers".
In the days of nonstandard bumper heights, this was mostly an urban phenomenon that occurred in heavy, stop and go traffic when an inattentive driver might collide with the vehicle ahead of him at a very low speed. This might not cause any actual damage to either car, but sometimes one bumper would be deflected above or below the other and they would become hooked together. This could be a major nuisance to untangle that usually involved much bouncing of the car on it's suspension by jumping up and down on the bumper and/or jacking one car or the other. This device prevented it from happening .
The downside was that they got in the way somewhat when you wanted to wash and polish the car. I personally think they're a cool period accessory although some prefer the cleaner look that you get without them. You can still find them out there out there although, as you can see, they're not exactly cheap.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-1930s-1940s-1950s-Vintage-CELLO-Front-Bumber-GRILLE-GUARD-w-hardware-/291437929088?hash=item43db0de280&vxp=mtr
Best of luck with the car.