At Artifcts, we seek to make histories and stories more accessible for all the world to see. We envision a world in which a student on the West Coast can find Artifcts (and their stories!) about a Women’s March that happened only days or weeks ago in Washington, D.C. Or an alumna of a community arts workspace can pop over to Artifcts to find the projects they worked on years ago and share them with their children.
The possibilities are endless. Crowdsourcing history? Preserving objects and stories in real time? Yes and yes, with Artifcts.
It seems that the Arti Community we’re building together agrees. We are all members of not only a local but global community. The actions we take, and the things we do may not seem significant on a day-to-day basis, but we never know how history will look back on any of us. What we do today could very well end up in the history books of tomorrow.
Meet the Nickerson Family Association
Our desire to preserve and share history is one of the many reasons why we were delighted to work with the Nickerson Family Association (NFA) to document the historic artifacts they uncovered while excavating the original homesite of William and Anne (Busby) Nickerson, the founders of the Town of Chatham, Massachusetts. For non-locals, this was essentially the founding of Cape Cod.
For five months in 2018 and 2019, lead archaeologist Craig Chartier and his team of volunteers uncovered the remains of the house and outbuildings at the c. 1664 homestead. The NFA affectionately refers to this work as the Nick Dig.
Through a collaboration of the NFA and Artifcts, the Nick Dig artifacts are all now viewable, searchable, and discoverable at Artifcts.com. The Nick Dig team even created a walking tour around the original dig site, using Artifcts-generated QR codes to guide visitors around the grassy knoll of what was once the original homesite.
A Cape Cod Historical Tour for Those of You at Home
Want to take your own computer-assisted tour of the Nick Dig site and other related Artifcts?
- Click here to explore the features of the dig site
- Click here to view some of the neat artifacts unearthed at the site
- Click here to learn about the dig itself and what it was like to be part of the Nick Dig Team
- Click here to get a glimpse into the life of William and Anne out at the elbow of Cape Cod, the eastern-most point of the continental US
Have questions about how best to capture your own family’s history? Reach out for a free 15-minute introduction with us at Hello@Artifcts.com. And be sure to join our Evenings with Artifcts on Thursday nights this fall. Our speakers will bring energy and new perspectives to important themes related to capturing and preserving history of today and long ago.
Happy Artifcting!
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