Using the Artifcts App to Create Artifcts

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.

Here you'll find a simple listing of a wide-ranging and growing collection of books, with 'stuff' as the unify theme. Now and then we may post a link to an online article, podcast, or similar, but given how impermanent those links can be and the frustration paywalls can present, we'll mostly stick to books.

We use tags to organize them for your quick scanning. Click any image below to review the book over on the author’s site, Amazon, or elsewhere.

What are you reading? Share with Editor@Artifcts.com and we'll check it out.

(Please note: These books are literally on our nightstands, coffee tables, and bookshelves. We are not paid to list publications here.)

THE ARTIFCTS BOOKSHELF

	The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance By Edmund de Waal, Jan. 2010 FICTION, COLLECTIBLES
	The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue By V. E. Schwab, Oct. 2021 FICTION, ARTS
	Uncommon Type By Tom Hanks, Sep. 2018 FICTION, COLLECTIONS
	What to Do with Everything You Own to Leave the Legacy You Want By Marni Jameson, Jun. 2021 NONFICTION, INSTRUCTIONAL
	108 Beloved Objects: Letting Go of Stuff, Keeping Our Stories By Jeff Greenwald, Aug. 2021 NONFICTION, THE EVERYDAY
	The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning By Margareta Magnusson, Jan. 2018 NONFICTION, INSTRUCTIONAL, THE EVERYDAY
	The Dig By John Preston, Apr. 2016 FICTION, HISTORY
	goodbye, things: The New Japanese Minimalism By Fumio Sasaki, Apr. 2017 NONFICTION, THE EVERYDAY
	Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness By Ingrid Fetell Lee, Sep. 2018 NONFICTION, THE EVERYDAY, INSTRUCTIONAL
	Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff: Declutter, Downsize, and Move Forward with Your Life By Matt Paxton, Feb. 2022 NONFICTION, INSTRUCTIONAL
	Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things By Gail Steketee, Jan. 2011 NONFICTION
	The Book of Form and Emptiness By Ruth Ozeki, Jun. 2022 FICTION, MENTAL HEALTH
	What We Keep: 150 People Share the One Object that Brings Them Joy, Magic, and Meaning By Bill Shapiro & Naomi Wax, Sept. 2018 NONFICTION, COLLECTIBLES, TRAVEL
	Taste: My Life Through Food By Stanley Tucci, Oct. 2021 NONFICTION, RECIPES, TRAVEL

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 do you have a pair of old goggles?” Would this history have been lost forever? 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.