“The only thing I kept was a collection of assorted trinkets stored in a shoebox: the clarinet cap that had belonged to the boy with leukemia, the key chain with the gold star, my Steif mouse from Dr. Salinger’s menagerie.” Betsy Lerner, Shred Sisters
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There are no clear statistics on how many Americans have memory boxes, although an informal survey of Artifcts community members and friends found that 100 percent of those asked did indeed have a memory box, bin, or even a drawer. The most minimalist among us even had a memory box (or two!).
Memory boxes are widely used for bereavement support, family history preservation, and dementia care, where the content of the memory box can help patients remember past people and events. Choices abound for those looking for a specific type of box for a specific purpose, as detailed in our Boxes Abound! ARTIcles story.
We’ve seen over the years how no two memory boxes are alike—the contents of Amy Shred’s box as quoted above are different from the contents of your box, my box, etc. We all have certain things that we hold on to for different reasons. The contents of our memory boxes are reminders of our past, connections to people, places, and events near and dear to us. Most memory boxes are overflowing with heart value, even if the financial value is dubious at best. Case in point, the now-disintegrating rose petals our co-founder Heather has kept for the past eight years. Pure heart value.
Preserve and Share the Memories
The whole point of creating and storing a memory box is to keep the memories safe for years to come. But how will anyone know WHAT those items are, let alone the memories that led you to keep them. Neither ‘stuff’ nor photos can talk, and all too often our carefully preserved and curated boxes become a mystery to the next generation, often ending up in a trash or recycling bin.
We can do better than that!
We challenge you over the five days to pick one item a day from your memory box and Artifct it on the spot. With Artifcts, there is no story burden, you can come back and edit and add to the story as often as you want! “My husband gave me this rose on our first date,” is all the story you need to connect those petals that are now floating around your memory box to a cherished memory.
Challenge accepted? Great!
Follow our easy steps below to ensure your memories, stories, and memory box contents are digitally preserved and contextualized for the next generation.
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- Pick an object! Don’t stress over where to start first. What is the first item you see when you open your memory box?
- Snap a photo. If you’re up to it, you can add a related audio or video clip, too, or record something new.
- Add a short story. Even a simple fact of WHAT the item is may be enough to get you started.
- Save! You’re done. Now you can privately share your Artifct with family and friends.
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Imagine if one day you inherited Amy Shred’s memory box, and you discovered the clarinet mouthpiece. You KNOW your mom didn’t play clarinet, but there’s a mouthpiece in her memory box. What gives?
This is one of the many superpowers of Artifcts—Artifcts lets you contextualize and give voice to your memories, stories, and histories on your terms. No more guess work or made-up stories in our endless attempts to connect dots and find meaning in the things we keep.
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Interested in additional ARTIcles? You may like the following:
Why One Mom Moved Beyond Memory Boxes and Instagram
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