Arti Unlimited and Professional members can use our new AI-boosted ARTIAssist to enhance their stories and memories with historical and factual details about the items they Artifct.
There's a fear factor motivating some adult children to prematurely help - some more aggressively and/or cheerfully than others - their parents downsize, whether to downsize and literally move into a smaller home or downsize at home to more minimal possessions. The end goal for these adult children is sort of "Not it!" Do not send all that stuff to me. I don't have room for all my own stuff, never mind your stuff, too.
The question for the parent in this scenario becomes one of legacy - will you leave a burden of stuff, or one of memories, rich with who you were in your lifetime, and who you were together, too? Shared now and shared later, maybe through these stories and memories you’ll help release people from holding onto so much stuff that the stuff becomes that burden the adult children fear, clouding the memories.
Simple everyday objects, with meaning. But will you keep them always, or maybe just the memories?
On that note, meet Sue, a member of the Arti Community. And not just any member. As she approaches her first anniversary with Artifcts, she is also our top Artifcter, surpassing even the founders of Artifcts who had a head start and a natural predilection for Artifcting.
Who is Sue? If you search @Sue on Artifcts, you won't see a single Artifct. We did promise everyone that your Artifcts need not be made public. Everything is private by default, and Sue loves this freedom.
Artifcts co-founder Ellen Goodwin sat down with Sue to learn who she is, what she Artifcts, and most important of all why she Artifcts. It was such a treat to chat with an Arti Community member directly and a fascinating conversation. Enjoy!
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Ellen Goodwin: Hello Sue! We want to know all about you. Who are you, and what brought you to Artifcts?
@Sue: I am a piano teacher. One of my personal collections is miniature pianos. I am also my family’s keeper and a genealogist. I have collections from both sets of grandparents, my parents, and of course my collections as well as my husband’s. This house is like a museum! Name anything, practically, and I probably have something of that.
I keep wanting my daughter to come down to North Carolina and go over things with me. Find out what she wants, and what she’s not interested in so I can do something with it. But there’s never enough time. And my son-in-law really doesn’t want all this stuff. So he gave me Artifcts as a Christmas present last year.
Sue shared this reality with grace and humor. Watch now!
Goodwin: What did you Artifct first?
@Sue: Christmas ornaments! Well, all things Christmas, really. I have heirloom ornaments, multiple Santa Claus figurines, and other items, so before I packed them up last year, I Artifcted them.
Goodwin: And then you continued Articting, focusing on collections or at random?
@Sue: As I have bits of time here and there, I have just started. No particular order. Just what my eyes light on in a moment in time. Sometimes Artifct collections. I laid out all my jewelry one day and enjoyed working my way through it, sometimes Articting pieces individually, sometimes Artifcting collections, like brooches.
I have Artifcted my grandfather’s weapons collection as well, including antique knives, some of which date back to the late 1800s. My grandson caught sight of the knife collection, and was interested, so he’ll inherit them. His great grandfather’s collection!
Goodwin: And we hope you’ll share the “why” behind this knife collection with your grandson, as well as the “why” of all of your own collections, like your pianos!
@Sue: Piano has been a passion of mine for a long time. I found out recently through my genealogical research that my middle name Beth is for Beth of Little Women, the pianist of the family. I don’t remember who gave me my first miniature, but my mother kept adding to it, and then I did eventually, too. Each is very different. Now my senior graduating piano students get to choose one from the collection, a remembrance from me to take with them. I have only Artifcted the very unusual pianos, like one from ivory, another from Dresden. I am Artifcting the ones that are special so my daughter knows which are which.
Goodwin: You told me that you Artifcted a collection of family bibles, nearly a dozen. I’m curious. What’s next for them?
@Sue: I inherited 40 boxes of heirlooms, pictures and genealogy papers, which I am still going through. These bibles were among the boxes and now sit in the open air on top of a family cabinet in my genealogy research room. I love the Cheatham Apocrypha Bible in particular, so that is the one I’ll definitely keep. It’s also the only one that still has the family pages in it. As for the rest, I don’t know what to do with them. I might see if the state genealogy archives wants them.
Goodwin: You have 100s of Artifcts. Are there some really marvelous stories among them that stand out?
@Sue: Yes! Well, it’s all in the eye of the beholder, I guess. I was really surprised to find a lock of Gertrude’s hair. Oh, and great grandfather’s bowler hat. That’s an heirloom with a great story.
@Sue: "I found this in one of the boxes that I inherited (all genealogy based).
With it was a card signed by Gertrude which probably dates to the same year, 1904.
Gertrude Cheatham married August Johnston 24 Apr 1905."
@Sue: This hat belonged to John Mortimer Cheatham who lived in Missouri his whole life (1843-1915).
The hat box is signed by Eugene Scherman of New York, so I imagine this is who made the hat.
Today, Grandmother Gertrude's fox lives with the hat.
Goodwin: How do you Artifct? Do you use the app, a tablet, both?
@Sue: I take the pictures on my phone, because it allows me to skip the step of transferring the photos from my nice camera to my computer. If I want to add more details or long stories, then I edit the Artifcts later on my desktop computer.
Goodwin: Have you tried new features as Artifcts has announced them?
@Sue: There is so much I haven’t fully taken advantage of yet, but I did recently ask for my first estimate from Heritage Auctions with your “What’s it worth?” feature. It was a set of four meerschaum smoking pipes. Each used. They had significant market value!
My daughter and extended family will inherit the items they wish to keep; she can always sell the remaining items. I think it’s important, however, to keep at least some of these things in the family—especially the older things. Maybe someone will choose the pipes.
Goodwin: As the co-founder of Artifcts, I'd be remiss not to ask ... What would you tell those who have yet to Artifct? Why should they do it?
@Sue: Watch and listen to her response! (Or read below.)
It’s mainly the stories about the stuff. Nobody else is going to know what it is. I am trying so hard to get them written down and on Artifcts with the pictures, too, because otherwise once I’m gone, the story is gone. I think it’s important for the children to know what was the most important to me, what meant the most to me, and why.
Now, they may not want to keep it, but if it’s Artifcted, it’s there FOREVER. So, they will always have that memory even though they may not have that item, because who wants 300 miniature pianos?!
And on that note, what's your equivalent of "300 miniature pianos?"
Across the US, homeowners are watching their insurance premiums skyrocket. According to an analysis of insurance industry reports, average premiums have risen over 20% in the last year alone, with no signs of slowing. And when disaster strikes — from hurricanes and wildfires to floods and theft — insurance payouts can take three to six months or longer to be fully processed and received.
Even when claims are approved, homeowners are often left grappling with another harsh truth: some things can be replaced, but many cannot. And often the things that cannot be replaced are the ones that we value most. They may not be the ones that hold the most financial value, but they certainly tend to hold a lof of what we call “heart value.”
What’s a Needlepoint Pillow Worth?
Let’s say your insurance company writes you a check for the fair market value of your damaged or stolen items. Refrigerator? Check, that’s easy. Sofa and loveseat, double check.
But what’s the monetary value of Nana’s handmade needlepoint cushions that sat in her living room for decades? Or the vintage charm bracelet your mom wore every holiday? How about your child’s first fingerpainting, lovingly framed and hung in the hallway?
The answer: There is no replacement cost high enough to recover the meaning of these items.And that’s why we Artifct.
There is no replacement cost high enough to recover the meaning of these items
When Disaster Strikes, an Artifct Is Your Memory Vault
Natural disasters don't give us time to prepare. But a digital record of your most sentimental belongings means you can prove ownership, document financial value (when possible), and most importantly — preserve the memories even if the object is lost.
While insurance companies assess damage and estimate costs, your family won’t be left trying to remember what that cherished object looked like or where it came from. You’ll already have a rich, secure record, and a legacy to pass on.
This October, we challenge you to Artifct the irreplaceable. Not everything in your home, just the things that would break your heart to lose. Start with:
A family quilt with generations of history sewn into its fabric
The wedding china no one dares eat off of, but everyone remembers
Click on the image to view the Artifct, one of many irreplaceable items of this family's history.
At the end of the day, no insurance policy (or AI algorithm for that matter) knows what matters most or what items have the most heart value to you and your family.
Your Family’s History Is Worth Saving
As you celebrate Family History Month this October, don’t stop at genealogy charts and old photographs. Think about the physical items that tell your family’s story. Think about the why behind them. And give yourself (and future generations) the gift of preserving not only the item, but the history, stories, and memories that go along with it.
Because in the end, your history is more than names and dates. It’s the objects you touch, the stories you tell, and the people you love.
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Looking for additional tips to help you be prepared for all of life's what ifs? You might also enjoy:
What is a family heirloom other than some object that someone decided was important in some way and decided to keep it and pass it along to another family member. That’s it. For what it’s worth, Webster’s dictionary agrees with us – and it all hinges on the word “special.”
: something of special value handed down from one generation to another
No one ever said family heirlooms have to be financially valuable or historically significant.
A family member might have an inkling that an heirloom carries with it some history. But then again, even if so, how will you gain access to that history? Usually it’s a conversation, a sticky note, a journal that’s also hopefully passed along. We can do better. We need to do better.
Artifcts and Heirlooms Go Hand-in-Hand
Each Artifct you create carries the potential of heirloom status. How you may ask? Many ways, including:
By creating awareness that this object even exists, or that it has some interesting origin or story, you increase the probability someone will care about it and claim it as their own. It’s no longer just ‘stuff.’
One of our Artifcts members thought her china set was doomed for the Goodwill bin. However, when she Artifcted it and shared the story with her family, she had children and grandchildren eagerly offering to take it off her hands. Why? Because it wasn't simply a china set that she had received as a wedding gift as long assumed. No, it was a set she purchased while stationed overseas in sub-Saharan Africa as a newlywed under instruction from the US Ambassador that, "Martha, you need a china set for 12 because you are going to start hosting diplomatic dinners." Who would have thought!
Because it wasn't simply a china set that she had received as a wedding gift as long assumed
By serving as a unique digital asset, a digital heirloom. Someday, your loved ones can inherit your Artifcts collection and the stories, memories, and more captured in each Artifct will live on. If you haven't already done so, simply designate your primary and secondary legacy contacts for your Artifcts account to ensure your heirlooms live on for generations to come.
By creating new family heirlooms from existing ones. One of the earliest examples of this that we saw here at Artifcts was Grandmom's rolls recipe from the early 1900s that was reborn and brought out for everyday enjoyment when engraved in her mother's handwriting on a cutting board.
One of our favorite tips for Artifcting future family heirlooms is to include a photo of a family member using, wearing, or otherwise enjoying the heirloom-to-be. It helps connect the dots between the object and your loved one, and adds context and visuals to the story or lore.
What family heirlooms are you the keeper of? Do you have many? Artifct them today to ensure those heirlooms and their stories make it to the next generation.
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Heirlooms on your mind? You might enjoy these related ARTIcles by Artifcts:
We’ve all heard the expression “greeting card holiday,” sometimes even used against one of your personal favorites. So many love-hate relationships out there with national days for everything from your dog to your sibling to coffee and doughnuts.
Then there are the months generally preserved for themes of broad societal significance, like heart health, black history, hispanic heritage, and even family history. Hello October, and hello Family History Month!
This October we’re sharing a few ideas from the Artifcts Community to help even those of you who may think you have no interest in family history to find some value in a month dedicated to exactly that. Use the month as an excuse or opportunity to get to know and capture your own family history and legacy a bit better.
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Hello, Family Genealogists (And Those In the Making)
An Artifcts community member once lamented to us, “I’ve spent so much time and money researching all of this history, and I have the files, but I really haven’t taken that next step to share with my extended or even immediate family. Without me they’d have to start over.”
And then she told us that all her research is locked up behind a subscription-paywall. Hmmm. If you can relate, here are some tips to help ensure your family history is not lost to the next generation:
Purchase a second research subscription for someone who can pick up the research alongside you to carry it forward to the next generation. Guide them through the myriad of resources online and through special archives and libraries as well as in your own family collection. If you have a tech-savvy grandchild in the family, this may be the perfect way to spur intergenerational connection AND keep the family history/research going.
Take a class or catch a speaker! You can find a plethora of them by searching online or go local. Check your library, community center, museums, or local genealogical society for special events this month (and beyond). Confernce Keeper has a wonderful listing of genealogy related conferences and events, a lot of them for free too. Share what you learn with your family and friends.
Create a family videography to highlight key moments in your family’s history, roles family members have played in historical events, and the modern-day family branches. For beautiful, professional videographies, we adore Lori and her team at Whole Story Productions.
Self-publish a book(let) to document your research findings in black and white. Distribute during a family reunion, taking preorders (and payments) ahead of time. If you need an assist in your family history, we recommend our partner at Legacy Tree Genealogists.
At Artifcts you can share the family history behind old photos, cherished heirlooms, even Grandma's china! Your family members need not be Artifcts members to view the Artifcts you share with them. Want to make sharing your Artifcts with your family even easier? Create family invite-only circles for easy group sharing, and off you go! We recommend using a special tag like #NickersonFamilyAssociation to easily sort your collection. Some of genealogists at Artifcts also use the ‘Location’ field when they create an Artifct to list a URL or folder path where additional information is stored.
Memorable Family Dinners, Recipes, and More
You’ve been away from home for months or years, you return, and as you walk in the door, dinner is on, and you get that first smell of your favorite dish. Do you have the recipe? Who came up with it? Do you know the key steps? Special or secret ingredients?
Some family favorites are born directly out of the original farm-to-table concept, before it was so hip, and those origins become a key part of the family recipe story. You grew potatoes and found a million ways to prepare them. You had fresh citrus, wild asparagus, or vibrant rhubarb all around you, and the specialties of your youth reflect it. Capture that history!
Start a virtual family dinner club. You could create a group online to swap recipes or go a step further and once a month someone is the virtual host. Send the recipe ahead (as an Artifct!) so everyone has the ingredients on hand. Then run your own cooking show and enjoy the meal together after.
Collaborate on a special family recipe cookbook. Ask each member of your family to contribute their favorite recipe AND the story behind it. How did it come into your family? Are there any secret ingredients? Who made or makes it best? Create a cookbook that builds all the family history and the stories that go with those recipes. You’d be surprised, but even one generation removed, family members will start to lose track of the details never mind the actual ingredients or instructions.
At Artifcts recipes, cookbooks, and treasured kitchen objects come alive through stories and histories, but also with supplementary video and audio snippets. Artifct your favorite recipes, add a video snippet of a crucial step, and share with your family. Our co-founder Heather Artifcted her mother's cranberry sauce AND included a video to show her teenage daughter how to know when you've got a good batch of cranberries.
Share the History
The reality is not all families have a family keeper, that person who by choice or default holds onto the heirlooms, photos, recipes, and slew of documents that represent generations of a family’s history. Or maybe you are the last keeper or recent inheritor of all this family history and are thinking, “Now what? I really don’t want this stuff.”
There’s a second reality that is important to recognize: family history is not only family history. Sometimes family history is part of local, national, or even global history. It offers clues to key figures, ways of living, and the social, political, and religious practices of a place in time. So, consider sharing pieces of your family history with the world through donations.
Philanthropic donations. Consider galleries, libraries, research centers, foundations, and museums with specialties that may overlap with your items. Donations are not necessarily only in the realm of inherently valuable objects. Often, you guessed it, the story behind the object is the key. Don’t know the story either? That’s okay. Reach out to an institution, share your items, and give them the opportunity to tell you!
Archival donations. Transform your personal family history into elements of a shared community history by offering your items to professional archives. What types of items might fit this category? As a starter: original works of fiction or non-fiction; scrapbooks, journals, letters, and diaries; original business materials (certificates, advertising, shares, board documents, voting records); media (photographs, slides, film, even websites too). You can learn more at the Society of American Archivists.
At Artifcts, before you donate, Artifct the items to retain the family lore and history that’s relevant to you, and then share with family. Make sure no one else is interested in the item before you donate it, and attach any documentation related to your donation to the Aritfct. You can then rest easy knowing your family’s history will be in the capable professional hands of institutions that will preserve and protect them for generations to come.
Let's Talk Wills and Legacy
Hear us out. Wills may be about death, but they are also all about easing the burden on those we leave behind. We all too frequently ignore the items we've collected over time. And, no, they will not sort themselves into piles to sell, donate, or bequeath. First someone must go through it all, a family member or two, or maybe a specialist hired to help. And in the end, someone will have to make 1000s of decisions about what becomes of every single item. Do you really want to leave a burden as your legacy?
Wouldn’t you rather everyone be better prepared and informed? Not only will making a plan and creating documents make it easier for your family to pick up the pieces, but they can also help loved ones understand why you valued the items you are leaving behind. We've got some tips to help:
(Dramatically) Simplified checklist:
Don’t have a Will? There are many wonderful estate planning attorneys in each community who can help you with this process. But this is an industry transformed by the digital revolution, and then some. If you are looking for a digital, self-guided approach, check out our fellow AARP AgeTech Collaborative partners at Trust & Will.
Haven’t really seen your Will in a while? Give it a checkup. There's no time like the present. Add it to your to-do list this month!
Confirm: Are the major themes covered?
Estate
Minor children
Relatives with disabilities
Retirement
Powers of Attorney
Living Will
Stewardship of digital assets (profiles, accounts, photos, web pages, etc.)
Is there a list of tangible assets referenced in your Will? Your Will may provide for a separate “Memorandum” that can be updated and changed at any time without making any changes to your Will.
No list? Start. Just take a first cut by looking around the house (or your Artifcts collection!).
Already have a list? Double check that it covers at least those items of greatest financial or heart (sentimental) value.
At Artifcts, pick three or four of your most treasured items to Artifct and let your loved ones know why each item matters to you. Use the "In the Future" field to think through and record what you would like to happen to this item one day. Will it be passed down? Rehomed? Sold? Consider sharing the Artifct with your estate planner or attorney to list with other tangible assets referenced in your Will.
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Artifcting Starter Resources
We have all sorts of helpful resources that we want to be sure you know about to take the pressure off and let the fun begin:
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Click on the image to view the Artifct, one of many irreplaceable items of this family's history.
