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It Was Greek to Us, but Not to @Greek Ancestry! 

October 27, 2023

Let's face it, when it comes to preserving family heritage on a daily basis, you have advantages if: 

      • You have family you still speak with in your “home” country 
      • You are living among people from your native culture in your new country 
      • Someone, anyone, was the family keeper and held onto photos, videos, and heirlooms. 

Likewise, closely related is preserving your family genealogy. Here, too, certain advantages exist, such as if:

      • You have a genealogist in your family, amateur or professional
      • You have retained the ability to speak and read your familial language even if you have emigrated 
      • You are from a country that has maintained the same political national boundaries for generations. 

As we admired the work and beauty of the Instagram feed at @Greek_Ancestry, we wondered what it’s like for people from a country like Greece, now living far from home, and trying to preserve bits of family history, heritage, and genealogy.

So, we asked!

Enjoy our discoveries in this fun cross-over event with Greek Ancestry and Artifcts advisor Georgia Mavrookas.  

Discovery 1. Family heritage is easier to carry forward when you make it a part of daily life. 

Saving your pieces of cultural heritage only for special occasions, or relying only on certain family storytellers, creates a lot of risk of those memories and moments slipping by.

Greek chocolates in green foil inside a crystal bowl

 
 
Chocolates, anyone? Keep Grandma's treats on hand every day! It's Artifcted >

Discovery 2. Political boundaries add wrinkles to research.

The area of Macedonia where Georgia’s family is from only became part of Greece in the 1910s and therefore fewer records are available and accessible for a genealogical deep dive. So noted! When seeking some early 'wins,' you might delay that research thread for another day.

We shifted gears and decided to check out Georgia’s husband’s side of the family instead.

Discovery 3. Original handwriting is fascinating.

It's more fun (and engaging) to look at cool original documents than typed up notes. And while we appreciate the advantages of creating altered images to help better see and/or translate faded script, never lose your original image. The coloration and distress you can observe in the script and the paper provide visual clues to our brain as to the age and conditions (humidity etc.) of the document that add to the mystique of it all. It also made us wonder how it is that penmanship has evolved so much over time. Really beautiful.

Original handwritten Greek birth and baptismal record

 
 
Original documents provide so much context beyond a single point of data. Check out the Artifct >

Discovery 4. Never hurts to have professional archivists & genealogists on speed dial.

If not for Greek Ancestry’s own archival collection and the Archives of the Holy Metropolis of Monemvasia & Sparta, whose records Gregory Kontos and his colleague Carol Kostakos Petranek of Greek Ancestry have digitized, we could not have traveled back to the late 1800s and early 1900s for original documentation with the relative ease and speed that we did. Instead, it would have been a costly endeavor to locate, access, and translate the records. And such diversity of records! This small research task benefited from Greek Ancestry’s collection of:

      • Birth & baptismal records 
      • Marriage records 
      • Male register records 
      • Voter lists 

Now what?

Maybe you hail from Ireland, Paraguay, Croatia, or the Philippines. The point here is, whether you have a single burning question about one part of your family tree or history or you want to uncover everything there is:

      1. Start on your own home front (try our Genealogy Gems checklist).
      2. Then explore any family tree(s) already created online (but watch out for errors and assumptions).
      3. Seek out professionals to help you along the way. They can bring so much history and experience to bear to guide you toward the right resources, even the right questions, to bring your family history to life!
      4. We'll see you back here along the way as you Artifct your discoveries so it can all live on with all the family lore and fun for generations to come!

We are so thankful to Gregory Kontos and his colleagues at @Greek_Ancestry for diving into Greek family history with Artifcts. We hope you all enjoyed and gained some inspiration for your own #FamilyHeritage research and conversations!

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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What's New at Artifcts
Telling My Story Without the Pressure of a Memoir

Reading time: 4 minutes 

Many of us feel overwhelmed by the prospect of telling our stories never mind authoring a memoir. One. More. Thing. To do. And, "How do I even get started?”  

Companies exist that will send you daily and weekly prompts to help; some will even call you. You answer a question at a time until you get to some state of "done." This is a solid, time-tested strategy for any of life’s larger tasks, breaking it down into something smaller.  

Those question-by-question approaches are not for everyone. You may feel pestered as well as stressed if you “get behind.” And not all of us are great with open-ended questions that lack true personalization.  

Another option is to work with a professional writer. No, not someone you meet for 30 or 60 minutes and with their notes they write or record your life story. Really? That’s a neat trick. If only life were so simple.  

We’re talking about the professionals like with LifeBook Memoirs, whose work is a true art, a physical family heirloom, and a gift. The level of care, privacy, and personalization to your needs, coupled with the product they print makes anyone a believer in the power of a memoir. 

But what if you want are not yet ready to plunge into the time and cost of a memoir and still want to privately make progress on your own? That's what we're talking about here today.

The Artifcts Approach to Writing Your Story, Your Memoir 

I’ve been telling my story through travel mementos, collections, books, photos and more, slowly but surely through my Artifcts. No outline. No grand scheme. As I come across or receive something that inspires me, I Artifct it.  

I'll use one of my most recent Artifcts as a simple example. I took my 13-year-old daughter to see the Broadway show Six. She loves choir and drama, and yet she couldn’t have been less excited in the days leading up to the show. I stayed quiet (which if you know me is quite a feat) and waited. The lights dimmed, the six wives and the all-female band took the stage. And ... magic! 

My daughter was enthralled, smiling, and shooting looks at me that said, “Wow!” After the show she told me it was even better than Hamilton. Never could I ever have imagined anything would outshine Hamilton in her eyes.  

When we got home, I Artifcted the physical playbill, the digital one with the six wives’ signatures, and a pic of my daughter at the theatre. Why? I’m not going to keep that playbill, but I am going to keep the memory of that day for always, for her, for me. 

Artifct of Broadway musical Six from Egoody

 
 
Fun fact: When I later searched Artifcts to pull up my Artifct, I found a second Artifct for Six. I had forgotten that my co-founder took her daughter to Six, too. Don’t you love uncovering surprise connections? 

The Best of Social Media, Meets the Best of Artifcts 

I always tell people that when we built Artifcts, all the social media giants were on Capitol Hill defending themselves and their policies. We had the opportunity to build something better. So, I’ve been privately Artifcting the big little moments in my life through the objects I collect without the pressure of view counts and follows. 

Then one day about two years into Artifcts, a genealogist challenged me to show how Artifcts could easily help someone to tell their life story. Apparently this is the holy grail of the genealogy world. I eagerly accepted that challenge and gave myself 10 minutes to complete it. 

How? Like Lewis Carroll’s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, I began at the beginning, using the Artifcts I had already created to tell my story in full color (and with audio, video, and supporting documentation, too).  

      1. Created a new Artifct 
      2. Titled it. I was literal, “My Life Story.” 
      3. Picked a category. I used “Life Moments: Other Life Moments.” 
      4. Filled in the story. Within the 10 minutes, I wrote an 1,100-word story that included approximately 40 Artifcts via @ mentions and wove in each of my family members, key friends and other loved ones with @ mentions, too, giving them instant ‘View’ access to my story.
      5. Added documentation. Totally optional, but in this case I chose to privately attach my birth and marriage certificates. 
      6. Tagged it. #LifeStory and #Genealogy made sense to me for single-click sorting to see other Artifcts with the same tags in the future. 

 

 
 
 
This 2.5 minute video shows you the @ feature in action.

Imagine the surprise of the genealogist who challenged me when I privately shared the Artifct with her and it was not just a story, but a multi-media surprise of layered stories about myself, my loved ones, the places of been, and the experiences I have accumulated, aka life!

The text of an Artifct blurred out for privacy but showing the title and names of linked Artifcts within the text

 
 
The green text represents the linked Artifcts that are sprinkled throughout my "life story" Artifct.
 
 
Don’t have 40 Artifcts? You could tell your story in 5 Artifcts, 30, or 100s. Artifcts you don’t weave into your story will always be one click away in your Artifcts collection for the full-er story! 

How Will You Write and Share Your Life Story? 

Artifcts is a gift. The reality is that if I were no longer here tomorrow, my family would know me and remember me with support from my Artifcts. No life story required.  

The life story Artifct I created is simple to create and a powerful, one-stop opportunity to hear the story from my perspective. And, best yet I can go in and edit and add to it any time I want. My story is not done. My perspective may yet shift, even on the way I see the past changes. And, who knows, one day my Artifcts may be the perfect fodder for LifeBook Memoirs to help me write my memoir. 

No matter how you choose to tell your stories, we beg you:

      • Create a digital backup. And make sure your loved ones know your story exists and how to get to it and ALL the supporting materials (photos, documents etc.) that went into it.
      • Do not let perfection or some idea that your stories don’t matter stand in your way. There’s no one “youer” than you!

We promise you it’s the big little details in life that everyone loves you for and wants to remember you for, too.

______________

You may also enjoy these ARTIcles by Artifcts:

Not Sure What to Write? Tips From Author Jeff Greenwald

The Value of Cherished Objects in Our Life Stories

Timelines Have Arrived at Artifcts!

A Family History in Five Artifcts

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Join Us for the 12 Days of Artifcts, 2023 Edition

Join us for some holiday fun!

Starting Friday, we'll publish a daily theme to Artifct as part of our 12 Days of Artifcts. No turtle doves or partridge in a pear tree, but each of the 12 Days of Artifcts offers you the opportunity to take a breath amidst your holiday merriment and chaos. We'll provide the themes, you provide the Artifcts.

No matter your faith or tradition, all are welcome!

New to Artifcts or only have a free account? That's okay! Once you sign up free, you can create your first 5 Artifcts free and see what you think before buying a membership.

And you'll have no excuse for not being ready as we're giving you a head start by sharing with you today the daily themes. Let's have some fun. And remember, if you make any of your 12 Days of Artifcts public, tag them #12DaysofArtifcts for others to easily discover and enjoy. We look forward to Friday, December 1, for the first of the 12 Days of Artifcts!

Psst ... They'll be ANOTHER surprise on December 1, too. Make sure you pop over to Artifcts.com to learn more.

Christmas tree made up of numbers, each with a topic to Artifct

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Fall Series of Evenings with Artifcts was a Smash Hit

The fall series of Evenings with Artifcts brought in people who were brand new to Artifcts and earned outstanding reviews from new and existing Arti Community members. In fact, 97% of survey respondents rated the series "very" or "extremely" valuable and informative. We’re feeling the love.

What does this mean for you? Well, to start with, we’re definitely bringing back Evenings with Artifcts this spring! And, we can start planning it with confidence and hopefully with your help, too. We’re on a mission to spur and support conversations about the ‘stuff’ in our lives and we’d love your input!

What Should We Talk About Next?

Here are but a few of the ideas that we received, verbatim, from survey respondents.  

      • Artificial Intelligence 
      • Export & integration tips with digital vaults (Just you wait. You’ll like what’s coming.) 
      • Bring Gena [Philbert-Ortega] back 
      • Repeat all your topics with new presenters 
      • Real Arti Community members and how they are using Artifcts (Sounds great! Write us at Editor@Artifcts.com to volunteer.)
      • What to do with old photos (Start here, and we'll continue to expand!) 
      • The psychology of letting go of our own material possessions and helping others to do the same (We have an ARTIcles story on this topic scheduled for January! You may also want to read our ARTIcles related to health and aging.) 
      • What other family genealogy folks find working for them (Will do! We've had so many great conversations with genealogists and genealogy-related ARTIcles with our learnings so far.)

Sharing this wish list with you is both about transparency and about sharing the fun with all of you in the Arti Community! 

What do you think of these ideas? What would YOU like to learn and experience in the spring series? Write to us at Editor@Artifcts.com and we’ll be sure to review all your suggestions!

Until then, if you're looking for the Evenings with Artifcts playbacks or related resources from any of our series, they’re all here for you. 

XOXO Artifcts

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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