History often presents itself as grand, sweeping narratives—wars, revolutions, prominent figures that reshaped the world. But the tiny, easily missed fragments of peoples everyday life holds a different truth than what we’re used to seeing. In some ways, the search for these details feels like reaching back in time and keeping those voices from fad

I must have thought something was really important if it warranted saving. If you put all of my memorabilia and artifacts together, you would get the most accurate story of who I was and what I valued at any one point in my life. And you’d probably need no more than a standard issue dining room table to lay it out.