We live in a world of information overload, and if you’re digging into family history, that overload threat is potentially multiplied by generations.

Some of us organize our research and learnings in folders, and folders within folders. Nothing other than the name of each folder provides us a clue as to how everything inside relates or where gaps in the content may exist.

Others of us rely on hardcopy photo albums and scrapbooks, often missing the contextual details and stories to bring those books to life when the creator of those books is not there to talk you through them. And how do you modify them once complete?

Whether you’re just getting started with fleshing out your family history or focused on closing gaps, we think timelines are a powerful tool to have in your corner. Dive in with us!

Enriching Family History with Artifcts Timelines

Digital timelines can be hit or miss. Many applications, from Google Photos to specialized genealogy software to Facebook, offer timelines, but they often are rigid in terms of editing and lose the context for each entry. That’s because those timelines simply place photos, for example, in sequential order or display SOME information while leaving other information (documents, photos, ...) in separate, disconnected albums or galleries.

We view the Artifcts timeline as the ultimate way to future proof your history by, first and foremost, revealing gaps in the life moments you've captured with your Artifcts. True story: When our co-founder Ellen first looked at her personal timeline, she realized she’d never Artifcted anything about her wedding! Oops.

Once you know your gaps, you can then create new Artifcts to enrich your history with the stories and memories that have been left out. Another approach would be to start with Artifcts you’ve already created and add in videos and audio and/or supporting documentation for more color and context.  

Here's a great example of enriching a family history. It's one thing to know who created this painting:

It’s another to hear first-hand what the artist was trying to capture and what the painting means, a generation later, to the artist’s son. Listen in -->  

Sharing family history in bite-sized mini-stories via Artifcts means you make feel-good progress a bit faster and family are more likely to tune in and listen to the whole story.

Put Timelines to Work for You!

As you Artifct, we create your timeline automatically.

Assuming you have created a few Artifcts already, you will find your timeline by visiting your homepage and choosing "My Artifcts." You'll see the timeline option marked with a yellow "New!"

If your timeline is a bit sparse right now, check out the public Artifcts in our founders' timelines for inspiration - @Heather and @Ellen have shared many Artifcts over the past few years. 

As you explore Artifcts timelines and think about your family history, test out the built-in timeline features, because you never know from where inspiration may spring:

• • • Switch between annual and decade views.
    • Flip your Artifcts from newest-to-oldest and oldest-to-newest.
    • Drag and drop to move any Artifct to a different year.
    • Add time period notes, per year, about key events or family history research gaps.

We have great FAQs about timelines and a quick video ready for you as well.

Share with Us 

We’d love to hear what you learn about your own history when you look at it anew as a timeline. Had you skipped key life events? Are there whole decades missing? What inspires you to fill in any gaps? You can write to us at Editor@Artifcts.com  to share!

Happy Artifcting!

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

October is Family History Month. And that got us talking about the meaning and value of family history. Have you ever thought much about it? What is “family history” to you?  

If you Google “define family history,” virtual AI machines spin out a definition that is seconded, thirded (Is that a word? No, surely not.) and otherwise backed up by a plethora of sites all talking about family health and medical history. Nope, not what we’re talking about. 

Scroll a bit further and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon church, defines family history as, “Identifying and learning about your ancestors.” What a convenient definition: narrow and deeply supported by the astounding archival records of the church and its home-grown Family Search software. 

As much as we appreciate our Mormon friends, there's more to family history than our ancestors, which on its own is already overwhelming. Just thinking of all those ancestors and what to track down about each one, from where, and what to do with what we learn makes us sweat.  

But here’s what we so easily miss in that process – our families today, aka ancestors to future generations. And that is much simpler and an easier place to start for most of us.

Family History & You

We want to help you focus on your family history in a much more personal sense.  

Pause and think about your family. Who comes to mind? A spouse and children, furry or human? A larger blended family? Or perhaps you immediately wrap in your parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, too? No matter who you have in mind, now think about the history of that family unit.  

In practicing this approach, our co-founder Ellen came up with these pieces of history for her family: 

Traditional “Family History” Elements 

• • • Lived in WI, NC, DC/VA/MD, and TX, with one daughter who is now more Texan than anything else. 
    • Lots of family travel, mostly road trips, with some far-flung adventures thrown in. 
    • Grounded daily life to work/school, sports, and neighbors. 
    • She and her spouse both worked for the US Federal government and spent the second half of their early careers working from home. 

A lot of what Ellen came up with is covered by public records—birth, death, and marriage certificates, along with newspapers and census and property records. Those are the very same records that genealogists would gather to learn about ancestors from 10s to 100s of years ago.  

Less Traditional, Maybe More Valuable Family History 

• • • Own family language, including regular words that have strange meanings as well as words that are entirely made up. 
    • Message boards, whiteboards and letterboards alike that exhibit the personalities of her family as they fill them in. 
    • The recipes for shrimp de jonghe and coffee cake that were stars of every Christmas at home. 
    • The homemade cards Ellen makes for her husband for every Valentines Day, Birthday, and anniversary. 

While traditional elements can tell you a lot and lead to a lot more questions, such as why all the moves, the less traditional family history gives you a feel for what the family dynamics and day-to-day life was really like. What makes the family tick, if you will. When it comes to family history, we care about both types of information and stories.

Family History: 4 Ways to Fill In and Protect Yours 

We challenge you this October to focus on your own family, however defined, and within a narrower scope of time – try just the last few years since COVID, for example. Less stress on the finding. More emphasis on the memories and the sharing. Pick even just one of the following to get yourself started.

Seminal moments.

CELEBRATE them, document them. How you do this is up to you. Conventional options are photo albums and scrapbooks. Grander options are a family reunion tied to an anniversary of some sort. For us, we’re of course more inclined to Artifct that, perhaps starting with Artifcting our Life Firsts checklist (download free here) and “best of” photos for favorites moments and memories, the details of which always fade too soon. 

Critical details.

We’re talking life, death and everything in between. To protect you and your family and all you have built together, take your first steps toward recording life data in a digital vault of your choice, like that offered by Trustworthy. Enter basics first: drivers licenses, passports, and car titles and/or loans. You’ll FEEL the progress. Let it motivate you to keep going: insurance policies, mortgages, 401ks, and more. 

Your photos.

No, photos are not all worth 1,000 words, but you’ll be devastated if they all disappear. We love the advice we’ve heard often from Cathi Nelson, CEO of The Photo Managers, to back them up to three separate locations, e.g., phone, flash drive, the cloud. You should do this often, and software like Mylio can help, but at the VERY least, back up all those pics this month.

Give a Story, Get a story. 

GIVE A STORY: YOURS! Skip the memoir for now. You’re getting overwhelmed even thinking about it. Write down one story of your own that you love to tell. Now share it with someone, in person and out loud, if possible. Storysharing is more powerful than storytelling because you engage the person in a way that is so much more memorable. Be sure to Artifct yourself telling it too. No one can do it justice the way you do, your voice, your words.

GET A STORY: A FAMILY MEMBER'S. Maybe you remember hearing it once, and you have forgotten the details. Maybe you’ve never heard how grandma came to be a physicist and the projects she worked on. Ask. Record it. Artifct it. Share it. And get more tips from, “Storytellers: Beware!”

Let This Be the Beginning! 

Whether you’re just getting started and want to go deeper or are already in the thick of family history and are looking for more ideas, even new fodder for family reunions and holidays, enjoy this shortlist of Arti Community favorites from ARTIcles by Artifcts: 

• • • Family History Month... Your Way!
    • My Family Wants to Share My Stories. Help!
    • A Family History in 5 Artifcts
    • Rescue Mission! That's More Than a Photo

Happy Artifcting!

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

His father was an advertising executive back in the 70s and 80s. Think Mad Men style. He was a bit of a wild man, a creative entrepreneurial sort that had a habit of building and losing fortunes, hustling, taking risks, and living and loving life.  

When he won the contract to shoot a Tiffany & Co. catalog, he was on the spot. He had to deliver on everything from art directing to photography on a dime to get the stunning results Tiffany & Co. expected. When time came for payment, his eye was not on a cash payout that his family needed but instead on a trade: Services rendered for a single Tiffany ring. And the good folks at Tiffany & Co. obliged. 

The Onyyx Stone Vintage Signate ring set in a simple 14k gold band is eye catching. It’s a manly ring. Bold in its simplicity. His Dad wore it everywhere.   

Many years later, on his death bed, he gave this ring to his son Matt to carry a piece of him and his spirit forward. It’s the sort of dramatic gesture you usually only see in the movies.  

Like his dad, Matt wore the ring every day, everywhere, an omnipresent touchstone to his roots.

Then one day, Matt took it off. Out one evening for a dinner meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio, Matt removed the ring, placing it in his pocket, to avoid a potential mess while enjoying an exceptionally juicy burger at his favorite local restaurant.

Only later when Matt returned to his hotel room did he realize the ring was missing. No hole in his pocket, but no ring either.

What Happened Next 

What do you do when you lose something?

You retrace your steps.

You picture what you’ve lost, and you try to describe it to those who might help you find it.

You hunt through photos on your phone hoping to find one that shows the ring clearly. But come to think of it, how often do you take a photo that clearly shows a ring you wear unless you’re newly engaged? 

Matt was lucky. He may have had the stress of this lost family heirloom, but he did not have the stress of how to describe this invaluable piece of his father. Matt had Artifcted that ring.

Artifcts to the Rescue

After Matt discovered he’d lost the ring, he did two things next: 

1. 1. 1. He shared the Artifct with his insurance company. His Artifct of the ring included photos with the ring clearly pictured along with the story of its provenance. This is every insurer’s dream. Instant notice from a client of a lost item, multiple photos of the item, and details about its provenance. Far fewer emails and calls back and forth to process the claim, less concern about fraud, and a lower stress, more likely to be satisfied, policyholder. 
      2. He shared the Artifct with the restaurant where he had taken it off. The restaurant owner shared the ring photos with his staff to begin the search. Not everyone can easily imagine a ring generically described. Photos help.

Two days later

The restaurant staff came through. They found Matt’s ring in two days later in the parking lot. Dented a little but found! Matt raced back to the restaurant hours before his flight home to recover his father’s ring.  

Matt then shared the Artifcted ring a third time. This time he shared it with a local jeweler in hopes that the ring could be restored to its former glory. Spoiler: It’s good as new!

If You Love It, Artifct That! 

There's simply, truly, we beg you to understand, no time like the present.

We share this story with Matt’s permission as further evidence of how taking all of one minute to create Artifcts for items that you value most in this life can have many returns to you in the future.  

This was never just a ring. This is the ring his father gave him. This is the ring that belonged to the man that Matt wanted to keep alive for his own children to know. This is the man whose actions taught Matt that you must always get paid for the work you do.

This story is not about the ring, not really. It’s about a wild man, a creative, a hopeless entrepreneur and the life lessons he passed to his son, and that his son now will pass to his children.

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The RootsTech experience feels like stepping into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. It’s immersive and for those few days in time, everyone around you loves to “geek out” on documents, trees, photos, heirlooms, and more that make up family history and genealogy. No detail is too small, no dive down a rabbit hole too deep. 

As a company, attendees often asked us how the show was going for us, which is sweet. When we sat back to reflect on RootsTech 2024, we had a few key takeaways.

RootsTech 2024 Takeaways

QUIETER BUT RICHER

The venue was less packed this year, and the vendors fewer than pictured on the map going into the event, but the quality of conversations were equal to if not better than last year. It was a mini reunion with other companies and with participants, too! 

Our co-founder Heather and advisory board member Matt Paxton being interviewed for the Inside Photo Organizing podcast. 

PRODUCT SURPRISES FOR THE WIN

Holding off and launching a major new product and feature was well worth it. The excitement and wonder were marvelous as we showed people how we made it that much easier to get cozy in their garage, attic, den, or family member’s home to create Artifcts AND instantly add QR code stickers to link that digital memory and value to the physical item. Learn more!

WE ALL GOT A BIT EMOTIONAL

The show brought a lot of tears and hugs our way. The hugs were those of gratitude and relief. People felt heard and seen because they are the family keepers, the family historians, the stewards of so much and with that comes pressure to ensure it is all preserved and shared with the current and next generation. We make that wicked easy. The tears were almost always out of shared experience. When you KNOW the pain that it is to watch someone change as dementia progresses and be in a race against time to capture the essence of them, emotions run high. And, again, Artifcts is here to help. 

UNOFFICIAL BEST OF SHOW

We feel like we won “best of show.” The number of people who came back to tell us we were unmatched at the show made every bit of this arduous startup journey worth it. Another vendor nearby asked us, “Did you expect this much love?” after overhearing yet another person tell us we were the answer they were looking for. Maybe, maybe not? We didn’t build our product for genealogists, per se, but we’re gratified beyond measure that we’ve found a way to support their work and passion. 

Team Artifcts and some of our wonderful partners enjoying a pizza dinner in Salt Lake City. 

PARTNER UP

Partners make all the difference. Artifcts shines in large part because of the relationships we’re building with other companies we believe play an important role in all things ‘stuff’ and who are authentic supporters of our work, too. We worked hard in advance of RootsTech to coordinate with other vendors who are Allies in ‘Stuff’ (click to check out ally discounts!) to locate nearer to each other so that we could then easily refer attendees to help in ways Artifcts cannot. Included among those, for example, were: 

• • • Akin.House 
    • Archival Methods
    • Legacy Tree Genealogists 
    • The Photo Managers 
    • Trustworthy 

Where Will You Find Team Artifcts Next?

We're planning to take all the love, good vibes, and feedback with us as we gear up for The Photo Managers conference in Columbus, Ohio, where we will be running a dedicated focus group on Artifcts and facilitating a small group discussion on privacy and security. One thing is for certain, we love interacting in real life with our Arti friends and professional members!

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Reading time: 3 minutes 

Feeling pressured to tell your life stories?

Has a loved one given you a questionnaire about your life that feels like another to-do?

Are you receiving tips on how to to “express yourself” or make your stories “entertaining," "thoughtful," or "compelling" and don’t really know where to begin?

(Are you the one creating the pressure?! Keep reading. Today's article is also for you!)

The Story Burden: What Is It?

Maybe you're not a great writer, maybe you don't want to commit the time, or maybe you don't think you have good stories to tell. But "they" are asking you to write your stories anyway and maybe even throwing money at it via well-intentioned gifts to encourage you. That is what we call the "story burden."

We know the pressure comes from a heartfelt place. Our friends and family may think we and our stories are worth preserving and sharing. And the storytelling industry wants to help us structure our stories to capture people’s attention in an increasingly distracted world.

At the same time, these story pressures can snowball and become a giant turnoff. The well-intentioned tips, classes, and frameworks may backfire and prevent us from making progress. And progress, not perfection, is what matters, just as much as what “they” want. Right?

Name Your Own Story Goal

You can't get there, if you don't know where you're going. What is your goal in recording your stories in one way or another? Perhaps your goal looks like one of these:

• • • Private, diary-like reflections that maybe you'll share one day with a chosen few
    • Recording bits of your personal and family history to share your knowledge with your loved ones
    • Capturing moments and memories that made you and others smile before the details slip away. Could make up the pieces to a great memoir one day!

No matter your goal, consider the strategies we've gathered below to see if any will help you make progress without that burden stories can create.

 
Time-Tested Story Capture Strategies

STORY PROMPT BOOKS AND CHECKLISTS

Lacking inspiration, a jumping off point? Download a free checklist of interview questions. A great question source is the independent non-profit StoryCorps (check out the podcast, too) and it's free collection of life story questions aross 17 categories. Or you could purchase a story prompt book like this one to work through at your pace. These resources will avoid set schedules and fixed costs so you don't have to worry if you fall out of sync with their pace or wonder if you're getting good value for your money. It's a free or a one-time fee!

If you're motivated by, let's say, a treat now and then, you could even eat your way to stories. Our co-founder Ellen loves good old-fashion soft caramels and was shocked how game her family was to answer the questions wrapped around each of these caramels during the holidays. Talk about low pressure! 

SUBSCRIPTION STORY SERVICES

Need more motivation? Subscription services like Storyworth can send you regular prompts and by answering them in a timely fashion, by yearend, you’ll have enough fodder to complete and purchase your responses in a book format. For additional fees, you can even add color photos, additional pages, and special covers.

SUPPORT FROM A PRO!

Not happening without human intervention? Hire a life story pro to interview you and write your story. Whether a short 30-minute session to scratch the surface or a full life story multi-month endeavor, you can find an option to fit your goals and budget and remove the pressure from you to pull it all together. There are an abundance of companies that will do this and range greatly in price from $150/hour to a few thousand for a limited scope to $10k-15k and more for multi-month in-person biographies of the highest quality.

Bite-Sized Stories with Artifcts 

We heard a lot about the story burden as we began the research for what became Artifcts. We knew we had to do better and create something innovative that would avoid the story pressure while integrating the best of the tried and tested techniques of story telling AND sharing.

What's remarkable about every Artifct you create is the simple choice as to WHAT you Artifct already speaks volumes. The "story" becomes a bonus, a bonus that can be one simple word—e.g. Dad’s—or a 5,000+ word story.

At Artifcts, you can proceed at your own pace. You won't lose the value of the book you never completed if you don't finish by the end of the year. An Artifct a day, Tuesday evenings with Artifcts, weekend pick me up, seasonal themes, or work your way through one of our amazing checklists inspired by the Arti Community ... whatever works. for. you! No deadline, no quota to meet. 

We love that Artifcts are also easily shareable to someone who may be assisting you with family history research, writing a memoir, or creating a family videography, saving you countless hours searching for, sharing, and annotating the materials when you’re ready to take that next step. We have great Allies in ‘Stuff’ who can support you and have many more in our “rolodex” if memoirs and personal or family videographies and genealogies are on your mind. Reach out. We’re happy to help: Editor@Artifcts.com. 

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Reading time: 3 minutes

What happens when you come from a long line of genealogists and end up with three busy boys as the next generation? Genealogy and the desire to understand your heritage gets stalled…until you and your sons discover the Timeline view in Artifcts! 

Yes, I was one of the guilty parties. My mom has binders and binders of ancestry and genealogy information, can tell the stories about our family history ‘way back when,’ and has tried to tell us her story over the years. But if you were to ask me to tell you those stories about her, I’d look at you with a blank stare. I wouldn’t know where to start.  

That is until we discovered the Timeline view in Artifcts, and I saw my own life story revealed to me in a way I hadn’t seen before. You see, pun intended, I am a visual person and process information very analytically. Yes, it is interesting to see my family tree laid out with names and branches, but it doesn’t really tell me about the people, how they were wired, or how I might have been influenced by who they were or how they thought. When I understand those things about my ancestors and influencers, I gain perspective on my own heritage. 

Seeing my mother’s Timeline motivated me to create more Artifcts for my Timeline. As each new Artifct takes its place on my Timeline, it highlights one more life event, one more story, that shaped me. I could immediately see in my Timeline how my experiences, represented through my objects and stories, wired me to be who I am today. If my kids want to know who I am, why I place certain values on ambition and work, and why I work as much as I do to achieve and provide, all they need to do is look at my Artifcts Timeline.  

My Timeline now shows my world travel (creating an open and adventurous mindset); it shows my cadet days in the Civil Air Patrol (doing search, rescue, flying, and establishing the building blocks for my leadership style); it shows my days as a firefighter and EMT (helping people and being driven to serve); it shows my pilot experiences (adventure, focus, and determination); it shows my entrepreneurial experience (innovating and managing risk); and it shows my family and our shared experiences. 

So, to all of you who think you’ll get to it "someday," realize that someday may come too late. Start capturing your story one event or object at a time. When you open that box that’s been in the basement for 10 years and find something cool, Artifct it to tell the story using images, audio/video, and text. When you travel, take a photo of that menu or interesting memento and explain where you were and who you were with.

Once you get your Artifcts going and see them in your Timeline, you’ll have bursts of energy to go fill in the blanks, you’ll start seeing yourself for who you really are, and you’ll build out your story to carry your heritage to the next generation. And the best part? Your kids will love it too! 

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Traveling to Salt Lake City for RootsTech?

Stop by our Booth #1517 to hear Matt share more of his stories on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. MT and Saturday at 12 noon MT. 

You can also read previous ARTIcles Matt has written, including Father, World Traveler and Now Downsizer and Stuck In the Middle With Stuff. 

© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.