Sidney Mintz also posits the idea that objects gain meaning over time through exchanges; this is not because they move, but instead because with each transfer, the object gains new social, political, and cultural relationships. This furthers Mintz's theory that when objects travel through places, they acquire new meanings. This allows objects to tell stories and hold history. Objects become "social facts" as they accumulate areas of value and contextualization, so there is never one fixed meaning or significance. 

This aligns with the Resolute desk as the wood originated from the HMS Resolute that traveled across the Arctic, then was in the hands of the United States, then was returned to the United Kingdom, and eventually gifted back to the United States. Every movement allowed the wood to change meaning, going from the makeup of the ship to the form of a desk in one of the most important offices in the United States. The wood changed from a general material to a national icon.