This will be my final contribution to the May, 2020 Family Artifact Challenge! Thank you to everyone who participated, whether a lot or a little, or just followed along. Your comments, encouragement, and passion for family history and genealogy is inspiring. What started as a way cope with Covid-19 pandemic stress and boredom turned into a real treasure of family history documentation.
Here are my last artifacts - all of the digital media, of which these are just a small sample, that sit in boxes, bags, shelves, and drawers. Diskettes, CDs, VHS, flash drives, iPads, iPhones, digital voice recorders, undeveloped rolls of film, websites, Facebook Pages and Groups…. etc.
Whose images do they contain? What voices are recorded? Are the labels accurate? Do I even have the technology to access the information? Where will they be in 20 years? 50? Where is “The Cloud” and will my grandkids be able to find it? Are they even worth saving?
One of the biggest lessons I learned from this project (stay tuned for a post on ALL the lessons) is that the process of documenting family history has no end. I knew this intellectually but really felt it on an emotional level during this challenge. That is a bittersweet notion. There will always be more to do (yeah!). AND, there will ALWAYS be more to do (yikes!).
I am okay with that.
I will leave you with a quote that has inspired my family history writing from the beginning.
“If you don’t recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are.”
Thank You!
Thanks for taking a look at the Family History Artifact of the Day Challenge! Every day in May I will be posting a family artifact or heirloom. I hope you’ll join!
To participate or see what other’s are posting consider joining the private Friends of the Psychogenealogist Facebook Group.
See All of the Challenge Posts:
In May of 2020 I challenged myself and others to write every day for a month about a family heirloom or artifact. Here are 10 lessons I learned from this genealogy writing experience.