Family Vignettes: Emotional Ties Behind What Drives Documentation

Many people engage their family through documentation, which become artifacts that lead family history. Our grandfather began collecting family history and narratives late in life. Circumstances drove his documentary momentum. Unfortunately, he was not able to complete the narrative he started. Granddad died leaving stacks of photo albums, piles of letters, and a series of three-ring binders with typed pages littered with scribbled notes and corrections. Working with his manuscript as well as on-going research has taught that everyone’s documentary momentum is individualized. All documentary work is the result of the creator’s passions and interests. However, that interest never leads to a complete picture or narrative. Rather than finish Granddad’s manuscript, it serves a different purpose as narrative artifact. As one of several examples presented in this paper, Granddad’s manuscript is not a complete (auto)biography of his family heritage. Rather, his manuscript is a collection of vignettes (or short literary sketches chiefly descriptive) with their own particular value