Map of Family

Think of a book passed down through a family. It is not just an object, it is not only the knowledge contained within it, it is also all the places that book has been, and the care and time to share knowledge with family. It may contain traces of the earlier readers, pencil marks, highlights and dog-eared corners. How does an object travel through a family? What kinds of knowledge are contained within? People exchanging knowledge about African civilisations, for example? Or of their own histories of loss? Think about histories that may have been erased, or suppressed. When collecting items from communities, how can we reveal histories of the family embedded in objects?

  • Bring provenance to the fore, who were these objects inherited or bought from?
  • Reveal the journeys objects made. Where did they come from and move to? In what ways does the movement of object reveal more about the forced migration of people?
  • Create a timeline/s to reflect changing hands points in the object journey.

But, how to reflect the family relationships? One way might be to use social network mapping tools such as Gephi. EXAMPLE: http://histecon.fas.harvard.edu/innerlife/connections-basic.html

EXAMPLE: Information Wanted Hack

If the 'Information Wanted' adverts are as much testimonials and memorials as methods of communication, how can they be compared and reflected upon with other forms of memorial? Would it be possible to use these adverts to create memorials?

http://informationwanted.org/

In this advert, the advertiser's son had been abducted by Union troops: http://informationwanted.org/files/original/c232478ba4ff2d53edff523ccaf43582.jpg

Reminiscent of this advert (1897), found here: https://twitter.com/wcaleb/status/1121144204816785408

Who were reunited, http://informationwanted.org/items/show/2323

I'm curious how this fits with an idea of a "path to freedom". Were these children taken by the Union army being taken willingly? Is forced "emancipation" (to serve in an army) freedom?

This advert: http://informationwanted.org/items/show/3202 -- would be a useful addition to a display on minstrelsy. (https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/blackface-birth-american-stereotype ) It emphasizes the proximity between minstrel shows and slavery. This successful and (wealthy?) African-American man was still looking for his father. the LIbrary of Congress holds some records relating to the minstrel group: https://www.loc.gov/item/2014637022/