Posts tagged Object biographies

Object Biographies: Fascinating letter via the USHMM

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has a wall calendar called “Everyday Object: Enduring Legacies” which features a range of objects including cameras, headphones, shoes etc that have a connection to the Holocaust and a story to tell.

This piece of paper has two letters, one from a Jewish man being deported in a cramped railway car, the other from the railway worker who found the letter on the side of the tracks and forwarded it to the man’s wife. Click the link for the full translation and further discussion, including a video of the curator talking about the object.

Research Week - The Biography of Votive Objects

Some of these projects sound so fascinating! It must be so inspiring to sit in on these talks and listen to people describe their projects.

What really makes something ‘votive’ is, it seems, the intention of the giver. They give this item to the sanctuary to ask for help, or to give thanks, and it this intention which makes an object votive. These objects are often anonymous, but some are iconic or personalised.

What is interesting, though, is what happens to the objects after they have been dedicated. Some are kept, but many things go to the ‘Bazaar’, re-entering the commercial world - I think this idea was surprising and shocking to some people. Sometimes things are disposed of in other ways, destroyed or donated. Many people don’t know this. It’s interesting to debate upon the ethics of this.