Enrichment · Cultural Studies · Free planner

Your family's story,
ready to display.

Plan a heritage exhibit for a class, a library or a family gathering: the objects, the stories, 32 interview questions to ask relatives, a timeline, and a layout for a tri-fold board or a table. Print the labels and a visitor guide when you are done.

Start my exhibitBefore you interview
$5one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $5

Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Life skills kit, $29 for 28 items.

From a box of keepsakes to a finished exhibit

Work through six steps at your own pace. Each one saves as you go, and the printouts pull from everything you have entered, so the labels and the visitor guide always match the board.

Start my exhibit

Space: Enrichment · Cultural StudiesAvailable

Outcome
A planned exhibit with numbered artifact labels, a one-page visitor guide and an interview sheet, all ready to print, plus a backup file of your plan.
Who it is for
Students in grades 4 to 12 doing a heritage or family history project, homeschool families, and teachers running a heritage fair.
Format
Browser tool. About 30 minutes to plan with the example as a guide; interviews and gathering objects take longer. Works on a phone or a computer.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Life skills kit ($29) and the Enrichment Suite pass ($119), and 1 more bundle. Names, stories and notes stay in this browser unless you download them.

Exhibit planner

Six steps. Everything you enter feeds the labels, the layout and the visitor guide.

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Before you interview

Family is who raised you and who you count. Parents, grandparents, guardians, foster and adoptive families, stepfamilies, chosen family and community elders all belong in a heritage exhibit. You do not need to trace ancestry, know where everyone came from or have old objects. A recipe, a song or a story told well is enough.

Ask, then listen. Tell the person what the project is and who will see it. Ask before you take notes or record, let them skip any question, and do not push for details about painful times such as war, loss, leaving home or unfair treatment. If someone asks you to keep a story private, leave it out of the exhibit.

Treat objects with care. Borrow only with permission, write down who owns each item and when it goes back, and show copies of photos and documents instead of originals when you can. Some objects are sacred or private; a written description can stand in for them.

Captions that work are short, usually 25 to 60 words: what it is, when and where it is from, and why it matters to your family. The caption helper starts one from your notes for you to edit.

Sources

  1. Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage: Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide, for preparing questions, asking permission and listening. folklife.si.edu.
  2. Oral History Association: Principles and Best Practices, on informed consent and respecting a narrator's choices. oralhistory.org.
  3. Library of Congress, American Folklife Center: guidance on collecting and caring for family photographs, letters and keepsakes. loc.gov/folklife.

Questions, a problem with the tool, or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com

Interview questions, prompts and the caption helper are written for Caveat. Respect each relative's wishes about what is shared. Free to use; nothing you type leaves this browser. Caveat Academic Services · team@caveatacademic.com