Not unlike the DeLorean car in the movie Back to the Future, objects and artifacts can be time machines taking you back into your ancestor’s lives. Maybe you have your great-grandma’s coffee grinder or some odd office device that is almost mysterious in it’s purpose. But, if you can discover how it was used and the context in which it existed, it’s like using amazing time traveling goggles that let you see into your ancestor’s world. Just holding that artifact allows you to feel what they felt.

Atop my mother’s desk sits an antiquated stapler that came from my grandfather’s desk. Stapling papers takes on a new meaning, when I think that Grandpa may have used the stapler during the Great Depression when he owned an office supply and bookstore in Ocala, Florida.

The brown pottery pitcher sitting on my mother’s fireplace mantle triggers memories of my grandpa telling me the story of his mother letting buckwheat batter rest overnight on the hearth in that pitcher. He loved those buckwheat pancakes! That story gives new depth to my research about my great-grandmother and her ancestors.

You may own family heirlooms for which you don’t really know the backstory, which is why it’s important to pass on the stories you do know to your children. A short video of you or a relative telling the story of an object is one way to pass on the magic of artifacts as portals to the past.

Would you like some help telling that story with video? I’d like to offer you two free Ancestor Story Video Tools to help you get started identifying stories and images for making a compelling video that will get your family’s attention.

Click below to download your free “2 Tools” worksheets.

Start Your Ancestor Story Video

Have fun taking your family on a trip into the past!

Photo credit: Pixabay.com