Artifacts tell your family history
Do you have a curio cabinet or mantle displaying a number of family heirlooms or interesting artifacts?
Does anyone in your family, other than you, know the story behind these objects or why they are cherished? I like to say that unless you share the story behind these objects or artifacts, they are simply novelties likely to be discarded after you are not around to tell their stories.
Using physical objects is an interesting and engaging way to begin telling your family history. As you discuss the object you can talk about the person or event it is related to or represents. Doing this can act as a springboard to telling more about the people involved, some of their personal history and how the artifact relates to you and your family.
The object shown in this article is a metal nutcracker shaped like a dog, that was fabricated by my grandfather. If you lift the tail the mouth opens to allow you to insert a nut. Push down on the tail and the dog’s jaw closes, cracking the nut. This object spent many years on the coffee table of my grandparent’s home and I enjoyed playing with it when I was a child.
My grandfather worked as a master pattern maker in a steel foundry on the southside of Chicago. After retiring from his job he continued to design and fabricate various objects for fun. He would make a mold, then cast the parts in his basement workshop using either sand casting and/or lost wax casting techniques. He even smelted the metal he used in a small furnace he maintained exclusively for that purpose.
If I were telling this story as part of a family history I would go on to tell you more of what I know about him including where and when he was born, where he attended school and maybe a few other of his accomplishments. I might add where and when he and my grandmother met and when they got married. From here I could segue into the story of the two of them and maybe include some pictures and another artifact. Next I might talk about the birth of my mother and uncle and so on.
So you can see how a few artifacts can guide you through the storytelling process and add interest to your video and value to your artifacts.
With a story attached, this dog nutcracker becomes much more valuable to my family members and is less likely to be discarded or simply enjoyed only for its function.
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