Love family history? Love bonding over family lore, stories, and other funny quips, quotes, and oh-so memorable moments? You’re in good company with us here at Artifcts! 

What we’ve discovered over the past two years is that family history may sometimes be fickler than we think. It’s easy to lull ourselves into believing that Grandma’s always going to be here to make her famous biscuits. Grandpa’s always going to be here to tell us the story of his steel pennies. But we know this is not true. 

Although we have yet to find a way to stop (or even stall!) time, we have discovered we can capture those moments, stories, and histories straight from the source. Thousands of photos and documents locked in your hard drive, or difficult or expensive software, will not do justice to your family history. You know the dots you want to connect, so start connecting them where you can easily share them with others with more permanence than memories alone allow! 

We’ve put together tips to make sure your family history will be remembered. 

1. No need to reinvent the wheel. Use the photos and videos you already have and attach the documentation that is already lurking in your digital or physical file cabinets. Founder’s tip: Add a link to digital files in the ‘Location’ field if you have a digital folder with other related items. 
2. Sharing is caring. Remember to share privately or publicly with your family (cousins included!) or other interested parties. Create a circle, invite your family into it, and you can all swap Artifcts like a big group chat! 
3. Ask others to contribute. If you don’t know all the details, ask other family members (who have paid Artifcts memberships) to help fill in the blanks by giving them 'Edit’ access when you share. Our co-founder Heather recently asked her aunts for help in trying to track down the details of this old photo.  
4. Families love using (name) tags. Tag your Artifcts with a family last name, first name, or initials to capture pieces of family history that are easily searchable, findable, and shareable. Got a big family? Encourage others to use the same tags, such as #GrandmaDot or #NickersonFamily2023, to build the family's Artifcts collection. 
5. Include citation links. Are you the family keeper or the family genealogist? Include citation links to your research or even family tree details in the ‘Description;' as you would elsewhere, leave out details of living family members if you intend to broadly share or make the Artifct public. 

Ready for More? 

Curious how others are Artifcting their family histories?  

Check out our Family History Month Your Way piece for additional tips and tricks, along with our Gift Your Loved Ones a Why for an important reminder of why all that history is so important.  

If you especially love history and want to see some unique Artifcts, check out the Nickerson Family Association’s Artifcts collection. They’ve Artifcted pieces of their family history from the 1660s! You never know what you’ll discover.  

Happy (Family History) Artifcting! 

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

We're unequivocally in awe of the women we've been surrounded by as we've struck out to build a private and secure place to bring the stories and memories behind the objects of our lives. Friends from kindergarten and new business associates alike have stepped up to offer feedback, cheers, introductions, and inspiration.

Today we share a bit about Muriel, who at age 97 continues to live with vigor and purpose and has oh so many stories to share and inspire those of us who are living in very different times than she did at our age. You might notice, it has strong echoes of Rosie the Riveter. Perhaps she inspired Muriel, all the way down to the bandana, or maybe that was standard issue?

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At the age of 20, Muriel set down her apron at her parents’ shop and began attending school with “the boys” who would stop into the shop on their way to class. What were they studying? Welding.  

From here it was a small matter of an acute attention to detail and the joy of being underestimated that drove Muriel to receive an Excellence in War Production Army-Navy Production Award from Lyon Metal Products, Inc., for her welding. Her specialization welding tail surfaces of small planes required a delicacy that was unfamiliar to many more experienced male welders at her school.   

We’ve heard the stories before, women stepping in across a broad span of professions and industries to ensure life went on at home while primarily men were off fighting. Advertisements abounded, opening the labor market to women. 

Yet, to hear the story firsthand, a story that was otherwise only a photo with a note “Lyon Metal, 1943, Montgomery, Illinois” on the back, brushing off this woman’s place in history, was awe inspiring.  

What if no one had asked Muriel the question, “What were you welding?” “Or, why, of the few mementos you've kept, do you have a pair of old goggles?” Would this history have been lost forever? It has to make one wonder what histories lie hidden in your own family tree? What storied objects lie lurking in closets, bins, and drawers?  

We encourage you on this day, International Women’s Day 2023, to reach out to a woman in your family and ask to hear more about their life. You never know how many, “I never knew that about you!” moments await. 

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You can read more about Muriel the Welder in our story on ARTIcles by Artifcts, "She's the Last of Her Generation."

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

High fives, tears, and hugs, that about sums up our experience at RootsTech 2023.

We were humbled by the many expressions of gratitude we received for creating Artifcts. For some the gratitude came from a place of feeling overwhelmed by stuff, including the everyday items we collect to the family heirlooms we keep. For others it was the pressure of being that family keeper and desperately wanting to share the family history and legacy with future generations, but worrying, “Are they listening? Can I get them to understand before it’s too late?"

Our magic with attendees was clear as we demonstrated how simple it is to create and share Artifcts. And how by combining photos and video, or even audio, you can bring stories and memories from today and long ago alive.  

The magic was also clear as people returned to us with spouses, sisters, and other attendees in tow. We all come to Artifcts from different starting points. Some are minimalists, others collectors. Some are artists, others living through a major life event and tackling downsizing. We know for some the smaller scale of this year’s RootsTech was a bit sad, but for us at Artifcts it meant deep conversations no matter your starting point that we’ll carry with us and have influenced how we see Artifcts and its bright future. 

In case you missed it, check out our how-to Artifct series on ARTIcles by Artifcts!

Whether you attend RootsTech virtually, in-person, or not at all, but find yourself becoming the family keeper, family historian, or some other version thereof, we hope this is only the beginning of our time together experiencing the power of Artifcts for capturing yoru personal, family, and community histories, stories, and legacy. 

As for next year? We will be there! We’ll set up computers to help attendees register on the spot and customize their Artifcts experience, even create their first Artifcts, empowering all attendees to walk away with a bit of their own personal or family history preserved for generations to come.  

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Family history and legacy on your mind? You might enjoy these related ARTIcles by Artifcts: 

Remembering Your Roots

Gift Your Loved Ones a Why

What Have You Done for Your Legacy Lately?

Show Me the Favorite Moment in Your House

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

For many of us the history of the Holocaust is just that, history. If you have visited the US Holocaust Memorial Museum you may have a somewhat deeper appreciation for its continuing resonance in our lives. If you have also traveled to those regions where the concentration and labor camps existed, you may have a still greater understanding as well as that overwhelming desire to see these lessons learned live on through us and unite us against these evils. 

What we worry about at Artifcts is that as those of the generation who survived the horrors of the Holocaust dwindle in number, will enough of us take up the imperative to preserve those stories that exist within our own family histories? Today, on the International Remembrance Day, Arti Community member @Dr_Dani_Q shares her own family's stories of surviving the Holocaust in hopes of encouraging other families to look back in their family and community histories to ask the questions, document the answers, and share with others so it will not be lost. It will become a part of our living history.

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My Grandfather’s Story: A Marriage of Survival, Pride, and Service

It was evening. My great grandmother approached and drew closed the curtains at the window where my then 12-year-old grandfather sat, sparing him from the sight of the SS soldiers lining up and summarily executing his Jewish neighbors who had lived across the street.

This was Kaunus, Lithuania. The year was 1942. SS soldiers occupied homes across Lithuania, including the farmhouse where my grandfather lived. Having already suffered months of servitude to the SS soldiers they were forced to house, my great uncle secured secret passage for his brother’s family that same night as their neighbors were executed via the railroad he worked on. They traveled through Europe and eventually onward to safety in Brooklyn, New York, in 1949.  The uncle stayed behind, working in secret to secure passage for all who he could.

Many do not realize that millions of non-Jews, even those blonde-haired blue-eyed Lithuanians like my grandfather, were forced to serve in non-disclosed labor camps and executed by the Nazis during WWII. Unlike some who survived, as you will read about next, my grandfather spent his life telling his personal story from his youth during WWII in eastern Europe, lest we forget. He also traveled back to Lithuania, always returning to us with presents like amber and carved eggs, urging us to remember and embrace our cultural heritage. And he served for freedom and democracy, working as a translator in 10 languages for the US Army. 

My Grandmother’s Story: Twin Pillars of Survival and Trauma

My grandfather met my grandmother in New York in 1957 at a Belarusian cultural center. You know the type, even if only from movies: native food, dances, and all other aspects of community. The community center was the only place my grandmother would be among her own for the rest of her life. 

Unlike my grandfather, my grandmother's experience in 1943 as an 11-year-old Russian Orthodox Catholic child in a Nazi labor camp turned her away from her Belarusian homeland and the whole of Eastern Europe forever.

Scanned copy of a ship passenger manifest validating when my grandmother,

I have always been interested in my family history and genealogy. But it wasn’t until a year ago that I asked my uncle to tell me more about my grandmother’s experiences during WWII. All I knew was that as a child she was in a labor camp in Nazi-occupied Europe, and that one day, while bending down to pick up a piece of laundry she dropped while folding in the officers’ barracks, bullets were sprayed across the building by American troops who arrived to liberate the camp. The fallen laundry saved her life. “You still believe that story,” exclaimed my shocked and disbelieving uncle. 

He then told the me, the 32-year-old adult me, at last, the true story. 

My grandmother was lined up in an execution ditch. She watched as the SS officers executed one person after another. She was number 10. They were on number seven when American troops stormed into the camp, saving her (and her entire family).

Let me tell you, my grandmother, she was 5 feet tall and really fierce. The eldest of four siblings, survivor of a Nazi labor camp, ... you can understand why! I just wish I had known her story when she was alive, because knowing it made me understand and respect her that much more. I would have understood better the generational trauma I witnessed through her decisions and behaviors. I would have understood why she was so tough and closed-off, refusing to speak of her past. And why she chose to assimilate to her new life in the United States to such a degree that she never spoke her native languages again; never visited her homeland again. I just wish I had known. 

Our Story 

Today my family honors and preserves our heritage through food, certainly—cold borscht, balandelai, and koldunai/kolduny!—as well as travel, sharing of the trinkets my grandfather first bought for us with our own children, and of course by sharing our stories. 

You’ll see if you read the Artifcts I have shared that Artifcts has become our outlet to secure this history. I get to keep so many things that I wish I had from my mom and grandparents. It relieves a weird amount of stress from the “What if” category, and what I would leave behind in the terrible event that something happens to me. That’s why I am sharing my family’s story today. To urge you all, how ever, where ever you feel comfortable – capture your history so it can live on.

- Dr. Dani Q

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

Growing up, my father used to embark on a rousing melody of “Over the River and Through the Woods” on just about any family car trip that occurred between Thanksgiving and Christmas. (Or at least that is what it felt like to my five-year-old self.) We knew the words by heart, although not quite as Lydia Maria Child penned them back in 1844 in her original poem by the same title. Her original poem included the refrain “Hurray for Thanksgiving Day,” yet nowadays, the refrain heard at the end is most often, “Hurray for Christmas Day.” 

I have on occasion caught myself singing the same song to my daughter when we embark on a long car trip, although she is not as accommodating as we were back then. Her immediate response is usually, “Mom, you’re embarrassing me.” Right.  

Regardless of whether you’re going over the river and through the woods or flying halfway around the world, the holidays have a way of pulling us home, bringing us back to our roots. There’s no doubt something comforting about the sights, smells, and sounds of being “home.”  

Although I am not going home this holiday season—my family is scattered, and my childhood home is no longer in the family—I did go “home” over the summer. I took my daughter on a whirlwind tour of Cape Cod and had the good fortune to be joined by my co-founder and her daughter for our adventure. (Ellen previously wrote about our experience and ALL THOSE PHOTOS here.) 

For me, it was a trip down memory lane, for them, it was a new and exciting adventure. The Old Dexter Grist Mill was a fun and historically interesting spot; for me it wasn’t just the Grist Mill, but one of our favorite fishing spots growing up. Kayaking the marshes around Sandwich, MA was a unique way to appreciate the diverse marsh ecosystem; for me it was reliving countless afternoons creek jumping and mucking about in marsh boots that always seemed to be two sizes too big.  

I wish I had Artifcts “back in the day” so I could have captured my childhood home and all the memories. I still remember the details, small and large, that made my home “my home.” The butcher block countertops that hugged our kitchen, the white couch we were only allowed to sit on for photos, and yes, even our front door with its cranberry red trim and large granite slab front step.  

For those of you that are going “home” this holiday season—take a moment to remember your roots and capture the sights, sounds, and memories of being home. Artifct your favorite room in the house or maybe even the whole house! Your future self will thank you.  

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© 2022 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Oseyo? Oseyo: A modern Korean restaurant tucked in near downtown Austin, Texas. What attracted us at Artifcts to owner and restauranteur Lynn Miller's story about Oseyo was the roots, plural. 

Lynn attributes Oseyo’s traditional Korean food—rich in vitamins and minerals that are only enhanced by quintessential preparations such as fermentation—to her father's ability to defy the odds and survive his terminal cancer diagnosis for nearly two years beyond doctors’ original expectations. This experience contributed to Lynn later advancing her learning in food as a healing art and gaining experience in cooking for special dietary needs at the Natural Epicurean Academy of Culinary Arts. 

Then, there's the reality that had Lynn’s tween-aged daughters not stubbornly urged her to reconsider an opportunity to purchase the restaurant space in central Austin, Oseyo would have been nothing more than a dream! When and why do we put our dreams on the shelves? How amazing is it to raise children who would be so bold and loving to see this dream in their mother and urge her toward it? 

And finally, you guessed it, the artifacts. The original recipes of Oseyo were derived from Lynn's mother's family recipes. You could argue the recipes are not your version of "traditional Korean," because what does “traditional” necessarily even mean? Does your mother cook the same marinara sauce as your neighbor? We didn’t think so. But family recipes are beautiful artifacts (and now Artifcts, too!). Oseyo is also elegantly and cozily decorated with family heirlooms, modern, dramatic art created by Lynn's husband, and upcycled and vintage finds.

Click any image below to view the Artifct.

We hope to return again and again for bites, but also to learn about new artifacts, including new recipes from Oseyo's executive chef Mike Diaz whose Mexican heritage plays so excitingly and surprisingly with the original Korean recipes at the very heart of Oseyo.

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© 2022 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.