I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Lori Roux, founder of Whole Story Productions (WSP), for many years. In fact, Lori was one of our earliest sounding boards as we contemplated building a community around all things “stuff” and “stories.”

Aside from being a die-hard skier and former New Englander, Lori was an Emmy-award winning team member of ESPN’s X Games and the creative genius behind WSP. Lori and the WSP team help families bring to light the stories, memories, and histories that make them who they are today through beautifully directed family videographies. 

Ellen and I saw an immediate fit between Artifcts and WSP—we couldn’t help but think about all that family “stuff” as we listened to Lori talk about the families she has worked with and the stories she has helped them tell over the years.

Sure enough, families, “stuff,” and stories go hand in hand. Whether it is a collection of old photos from the turn of the century or Grandma’s china or an assortment of antique silver. Those objects all represent lives lived, adventures had, and the very essence of what it is to be us, to be alive.

I sat down with Lori for a virtual conversation last month and wanted to share with you some of our key takeaways.

Heather Nickerson: Tell us a bit about your typical client. 

Lori Roux: Usually I’m working with a family, but once in a while there may be more of a corporate lean, where the story is more business oriented. Many clients have had successful family businesses and are telling the story of how it started, where, and when. Then we progress through family evolution, historical aspects, philanthropy, and legacy.

I also had a project for a museum exhibition – that creates challenges around length, how long can you keep people’s attention while standing at a kiosk of some sort.

Nickerson: How do clients typically find you?

Roux: Clients usually find me by word of mouth, so somebody knows somebody who knows somebody who I’ve worked with. I’ve also met clients through their other service providers – attorneys, accountants, financial advisors. I am listed as a service provider with large and small financial institutions.

Nickerson: You’ve said that people often tell you that they are not interesting enough to do a video. How do you convince people that they are?

Roux: Almost to a tee people will say, “Oh, there’s not much to tell.” Or, “We’re not really that interesting.” But I try to explain that to their audience, their family and friends, it’s incredibly interesting. It’s a story for the rising generations. A story of who they are, their successes and failures, and what their message is for those that they may never meet.

As one client said to their hesitant father/patriarch, “It’s not about you Dad. It’s about us. It’s FOR us.”

Nickerson: Can you share a story or two that stands out from the families you’ve worked with?

Roux: There are a number of stories, so I’ll pick one of my favorites.

I had a family that I worked with in Australia with eight adult children. The family tells a story debating whether they were “free settlers or convicts” when their ancestors came from the Isle of Skye. There were multiple versions of the story depending on who in the family you asked. I don’t usually do the research, but I was searching for an image of a ship from the 1800s to include to help the visuals of the story. I happened to come upon the original manifest of the ship’s passengers. It listed a number of the family names with a $ fee next to it, which means they paid for passage! Not sure it put to rest the argument, however, as they genuinely like the mystery and family lore!

Nickerson: Getting people to talk about their most intimate family details has to be challenging. How do you get people to trust you? 

Roux: You know, that’s something that I work really hard at. It all starts at that first meeting – trying to talk about the project while also expressing your own humanity and sharing a story of your own that might apply. Even offering a comparison – like, my own family immigrated from Eastern Europe and though they thought they really didn’t know much about their history, it turned out, the more questions they asked each other, the more they discovered they knew collectively!

I also talk about their privacy, and how they will end up including other family members, and how we keep their final product secure. 

It’s all about them… and I try and express that it’s not a “gotcha moment” when we do an interview. It’s all preplanned and preapproved so the final film is what they envisioned.

Nickerson: Explain how you incorporate other keepsakes in a video (e.g., photos, letters, music). 

Roux: Some of the most important parts of a project are the photos, videos, letters, and other family records. You know the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, that’s so true! We can tell so much of someone’s story with a few photographs and some music, without even a word being said. We try and include whatever is meaningful and significant to each family – whether it’s a business contract or a love letter.

Nickerson: You know the story of Artifcts. How do you think Artifcts could help you in your work with your clients?

Roux: With all the photos and keepsakes that people share, that we include, Artifcts is a great place for them to find a home. When the project is complete, all the photos can be archived on Artifcts so family members can then go and peruse them at their leisure. When it’s in the film, you might only see something for five seconds. All the people in the photo might be recognizable, but in the film, the images fly by so quickly. Having organized, archived access for everyone who the family wants to share with will be invaluable. It’s like a secure online photo album shared with the entire family, accessible any time, only the family can then add documents, stories, and all the details that you typically don’t get with a photo album.

< End of interview >

We know that when it comes to our personal lives and histories “someday” often turns into never or maybe simply too late. We hope you will think about those pieces of you that should be Artifcted and archived to pass to friends and family and future generations before it’s too late. Take it one object at a time. If you get stuck, see if some of our partners and membership organizations can help you!

Interested in creating a family video biography? You can reach out to Lori at Whole Story Productions  to start the conversation. 

© 2022 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

From the moment her pudgy two-year-old hands could swipe her older brother’s Sesame Street books and she discovered Cookie Monster’s Famous Cookie Dough recipe, Karla was “helping” in the kitchen. Afterall, as Cookie Monster told us, “Home is where heart is. Heart where cookie is. Math clear: Home is cookie.” And her family embraced that logic with delicious Sunday tradition of cake and ice cream dinners. Today Karla’s stunning confections skew to cookies (Cookie Monster dough included – check out her Artifct below!) less because she’s a cookie monster and more for the joy of the process and because “Home is cookie.” Karla loves sharing her creations with friends, including contactless cookie deliveries during COVID to unsuspecting friends’ homes. 

Click the image to view the complete Artifct

Despite her wow’ing cookie skills, Karla is not some TikTok how-to baking guru or Instagram influencer. Instead, you could ask her, “Why is this petunia white instead of purple?” Karla started her professional career as a computational biologist, using computer modeling to understand things like gene mutations that change a flower’s color and yield new delightful varieties in flower shops. But that same discovery in that plant can reach well-beyond the plant world to aid, for example, our understanding of RNA-interface and cancer.  

Karla never dreamed at age 10 or even 20 of becoming a lab scientist. She was always going to be a doctor. But then one night during her junior year of undergrad a math theorem nearly stumped her. Karla knew what the theorem was telling her - math was her truest passion. She took her biology and math smarts and steered them into a master’s degree in applied biosciences where she was a bit of a unicorn. She was a human bridge between hardcore biologists in the wet labs who spoke in As, Gs, Cs, and Ts and the computer scientists locked in the languages of 1s and 0s. 

Click the image to view the complete Artifct

Karla is a bridge in another world as well – cycling. During her years-long metamorphosis from hobbyist tandem-bike rider to national-level competitive road cyclist she identified twin truths she’s intent on harmonizing: Cycling is about community, but certain stigmas keep people from cycling. Community on a bike means, “Riders show up, conversations are had or not. You are free to work out your stress and frustration on your bike, with company.” You challenge and push each other in races but meet up irrespective of team affiliation for a sociable drink or dinner later. And maybe the allure of cycling cuts another way to create a barrier. Cycling is after all one of few sports in the world in which you find world-class riders, at the pinnacle of the sport, coming out to race with the average Joe, as they say. Your hard work and dedication put you on the same starting line in cycling.  

Today, Karla works with existing community cycling organizations, like Austin’s beloved Driveway and its Thursday night races and mentoring program. In 2021, she also spearheaded The LeadOut Foundation, which is committed to breaking down barriers to help expand the community of cyclists and supporting new and emerging racers. The Foundation Team knows that it starts small, with a friendly, knowledgeable face in the group, and grows from there, with resources, human and financial, at the community level. With efforts of The LeadOut Foundation and similar organizations worldwide, maybe we will all have the chance to learn that, sure, road cyclists may be a bit type A when it comes to their sport—specialized kits, fancy water bottles, components crafted to spec—but they sure do also have a lot of fun! Why not give it a try? 

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To learn more about The LeadOut Foundation and its work in the Austin community and beyond, visit: www.theleadoutfoundation.org/mission.  

© 2022 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

We have a confession. Artifcts is our new love language.

We hope it will be yours, too. We know from experience what a delightful surprise it is to be greeted with a new Artifct in your inbox!

Yes, an Artifct usually takes 60 seconds or less to create, but it's made with love, from the photos and videos you choose to the details you include. For Artifcts' co-founders most of the Artifcts they have created are for their children, sharing bits of themselves as well as remembering for their children things that will slip from their memories or already have faded away a la Inside Out's lovable character Bing Bong.

An Artifct is an interactive gift you can share from any distance. It becomes a topic of conversation, a happy memory shared, a new story discovered. For some, it's even passing a piece of history from one person to another and will grow over time with new details added.

This Valentine's Day as you pause for a moment to absorb all the positive in life, surprise someone—friend, sister, neighbor, professor, parent, son—with an Artifct!

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© 2022 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

He said it started with a train ride to buy a harp at the turn of the 20th century.  

Jerry May’s father made young Jerry wait until he was 10 years old to learn to play the accordion. Begging since the age of seven, his dad wanted to be sure his eldest son “knew the value of his music” and would not give up on it. But Jerry would never give up. 

Music was in his blood. From Jerry's grandfather taking the Burlington railroad into Chicago to purchase a Chicago Harp to his mother and eventually his siblings each playing piano, music was an ever-present part of Jerry’s life.  

The accordion by design is a lonely instrument. With the keyboard on the right and bass on the left, you are your own accompaniment. But you don’t have to be. By the time Jerry was 13, he was taking his 12 bass accordion to accompany his twin sisters who would sing at events in town. Jerry recalled the amazing payment they received after playing for the local fire department where their dad volunteered - a pizza dinner! This was the early 1950s and pizza was just getting its start. He delighted in the novel treat. 

Fast forward to Jerry’s senior year at the Marmion Military Academy, a local Catholic high school, when he joined the school’s professional band as the only accordion among largely classic brass musicians. He was inspired and upon graduation he and a friend started a band named the Mello Tones.  

For the next 40 years, the band—which also included tenor sax, alto, clarinet, drums, and a bass—played classic dance tunes, including polkas, waltzes, and period classics from the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, at weddings, clubs, private events and parties, riffing off each other, and loving life. Jerry led the band with a singular mission after all — making people happy.  

About 20 years ago Jerry shifted his music back to his family’s German roots. He formed a new band, Jerry’s Happy Wanderers, and with lederhosen, a pinned fedora, and a collection of over 30 German songs the now seasoned musician found his dance card fully booked with requests to play Oktoberfests, pubs, and special events throughout the US and Europe. He was now only one of a few remaining accordion players in the 80,000 strong American Federation of Musicians and the only one playing German music.  

Jerry is now in his 80s and intends to retire from professional music at the end of this year. We suspect you may still find him in one-man shows at the request of his family, like the snippet above from his recent gig at Two Brothers. His 60 years have brought him as much joy as the merriment he has inspired. From state fairs and festivals, river cruises and clubs, and even those sparkly Chicago high rises, Jerry has brought what is becoming a lost art to many and become one of its keepers along the way. 

We close with a tantalizing surprise. Artifcts from Jerry’s extended private collection, which includes accordions that came into Jerry’s life from those who play no more.  

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© 2021 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Shortly after the launch of Artifcts, I was introduced to Steven Fuhrman, Business Manager of Didlake Imaging. Steven and I immediately connected over a shared mission, helping individuals, families, and corporations preserve pieces of “their” story. Be it family wedding photos from generations gone by to historic maps, documents, and other physical pieces of paper that help shed a light on who we are, and where we’ve been. 

Steven and I also bonded over our respective privacy first mindsets. It’s not often you find someone who goes the extra mile to help people protect their own privacy. I had an ear-to-ear grin as I listened to Steven describe in detail the steps he and his team take to preserve people’s privacy when handling their most sensitive and cherished objects. 

Two months and several conversations later, I had the pleasure of taking a tour of Didlake’s Manassas, VA digital imaging lab, and sitting down with Steven and Valerie Spencer, Director of Business Development, for an interview/extended conversation. 

Seeing that we at Artifcts get asked from time to time, “What should I do with this box of old photos?” we thought we’d share our conversation with our Arti Community. But before we do, one more comment: Didlake's facility is amazing. First, it is spotless. Paper generates a LOT of dust, and you would never know it by touring the Didlake facility. Second, they take security to heart. From cell phone lock boxes to security cameras. No stone was left unturned when planning the security footprint of the facility.  

Having said that, on to the interview! 

Heather Nickerson: Didlake has a fascinating, decades long corporate history as a non-profit. What prompted you to get into the digitization business?  

Valerie Spencer: Didlake’s mission is to create opportunities that enrich the lives of people with disabilities. (Editor’s Note: Didlake prides itself on hiring local individuals with disabilities for a variety of jobs, such as photo scanning.) The management team at the time saw an opportunity with the Coast Guard to digitize large format drawings leveraging our past experience digitizing microfilm. Our first major investment was a large format scanner, a requirement for this project. Once we could demonstrate our success with large format, we could easily do other, less complex formats. Given our government contracting background, we pursued other large format and traditional digitization projects, including one with an airport. This then led us into the mass digitization market. 

Heather: Tell us about the clients you typically take on.  

Valerie: There is no typical project or typical client! Really, we work with anyone who has paper, anyone who has photos, maps, documents, student files, etc. We saw a need to support people cleaning out their homes during the pandemic and the holidays, prompting us to invest in specialty photo scanning equipment and to make improvements to our webpage. 

Heather: Any surprises or heart-warming stories from over the years?  

Steven Fuhrman: Our goal is to never turn anyone away. Most people send us boxes of photos, but no job is too small. One customer sought us out in the middle of the pandemic. He had lost his dog, and he only had three or four really good photos of the dog. He asked if we would digitize them for him as a way to memorialize his pet. Since it was in the middle of COVID, we did it for him while he waited in his car. It brought tears to his eyes knowing the photos would be preserved for years to come.   

Another story that comes to mind is that one of our clients is an owner of an art gallery. She had recently discovered a box of letters that her father had wrote home to his family during the Vietnam War. She wanted to preserve the letters and his story. Our team handled the letters very carefully, taking them out of their original envelopes, digitizing them, and returning them to their original envelopes and safely storing/returning them. We were honored that she trusted us enough with those family treasures. You don’t just hand something like that over to anyone. We wanted to make someone’s life better and help preserve that piece of family history.  

Heather: I can imagine you are dealing with people’s most cherished artifacts. What do you tell clients to reassure them that their items will be safe with you?  

Valerie: We have a stellar reputation and have built up a lot of trust over the years. If the U.S. government trusts us with its most important documents, that says something. We also reassure clients that all our employees have background checks and have signed confidentiality agreements. We also franchise three The UPS stores and are experts in shipping and packaging; we know how to protect items in transit.  

Heather: Not every digitization company has a state-of-the-art, secure facility. Can you tell us a bit more about that?  

Valerie: Security is really important to us so we chose a location in a professional business park occupied by other county service providers. We utilize security cameras to track entry from the exterior and access control systems to permit access to sensitive internal areas. Our storage facility is dual climate controlled, and we use a secure cloud server for our digital services. We have invested in the security infrastructure to make sure people feel safe sending us their items.  

Heather: You know the story of Artifcts. How do you think Artifcts could help you in your work with your clients? 

Valerie: Artifcts is a natural complement to what we do at Didlake. We’re both preserving items in a digital manner and making it accessible and easy for people to share their memories. We all like to tell stories, and Artifcts lets the user tell the story.  

If you are looking for someone to help digitize your old photos, documents, maps, and more, contact Steven at Steve@DidlakeImaging.com. 

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© 2021 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

We had a five-alarm house fire one Saturday afternoon in January when I was in the second grade. My parents sent us down to the neighbor’s house for our safety (and to get us out of the way, I’m sure). Our loyal golden retriever did not get the memo and kept busting into the house to try and rescue us only to be escorted out by the firefighters. 

We could easily have lost everything. Had my grandfather not arrived when he did for a visit, and had my brother not been so excited to show him some new football cards he’d gotten, my brother never would have discovered his room full of smoke in time to save the house from the fire that was creeping through the walls after the chimney cracked. Even as it was, my father called 911 and hung up thinking maybe it wasn’t a big deal before relenting and calling again. It was at that point my mom took the now fabled Black Forest Soup she was cooking for dinner off the stove. Dinner canceled. 

We were lucky. Our family was displaced for about three months while they tore out the errant fireplace and chimney from our more than 100-year-old farmhouse (shown above)—notably, the original fireplace and chimney are still there, this was the newer one.  

We had to rebuild most of our living room and my siblings’ bedrooms in addition to having everything from the walls and floors to textiles and toys professionally cleaned to get the smoke stains and smell out. Curtains, clothing, blankets, my mom’s wedding gown – bags and bags of stuff and memories carried out for cleaning. 

I don’t think my siblings and I got to take anything out of the house with us that day. But my mom had boxes of family photos. I remember seeing the blue photo box with the white lid. The rest was left to the whims of the fire. 

Home Fires and Personal Loss 

Now I look around my adult home and think, if the house were on fire and we were all (humans and pets) out safe, what would I take out if I had time? I use this thought process to Artifct sometimes – making sure that in the worst case, I have the memory captured, and in best case, I have a record I can turn over to my homeowner's insurance agent for replacement of the (at least somewhat) replaceable items. I have even moved some items not on display or active use to airtight bins like home organization professionals advocate in case that would save them in a fire like the one I experienced as a child. Smoke and water were the primary sources of loss. 

I asked my neighbor, Westlake Fire Chief David Wilson, about his experience with families in similar situations. "They don’t usually come out carrying stuff,” he told me. With the fire crew taking over the scene, families make requests of the firefighters to rescue sentimental items, like a painting in a study, a blanket from a bed, an heirloom gun from a safe, or photos from a closet. He added, “We want people to be prepared, though." You should know what you'd save and where it is located. It's so much harder, and clearly more emotional, after the fact. Families will sit stunned, making lists. It's painful to sift through memories of what was in hopes of going through what remains and rescuing the tangible representations of the past.

Be Prepared 

As you prepare for the chilly fall and winter days and nights ahead, complete the home maintenance required to keep you, your loved ones, and your home safe. Use common sense too and avoid setting up fire traps with unattended candles, hot-burning lights, poorly screened fires, or even ill-placed (seemingly benign) glass objects that can act as sun magnifiers; we do after all live in a flammable world. Don't forget to Artifct those most precious items.

Here are a few non-profit resources with step-by-step guides, safety equipment tips, and even after-fire help resources.

• National Safety Council
• National Fire Protection Association
• Ready.gov
• American Red Cross

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© 2021 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.