Who made it, owned it, and carried it?
Ownership history and family context distinguish a documented artifact from an unidentified object.
Objects carry memory
An object matters most when its story stays attached.
The archive aims to preserve creator, owner, date, material, event, and provenance whenever those facts can be established.
Describe an object or collectionPhotograph every identifying detail.
Signatures, inscriptions, labels, dimensions, reverse sides, and accompanying papers can be as important as the front view.
Digital records can preserve privately held material.
Families do not need to surrender an object to help document it. Clear photography and reliable history can add it to the research record.
From the recovered collection
The surviving visual record.
