Mystery in History

Are You Surrounded by Your Ancestors’ Possessions?

The Steamer Trunk in the Room

Andrew Gaertner
Mystery in History
Published in
5 min readFeb 26, 2024

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The trunk my partner’s great-grandma brought over from Finland. All photos by the author.

Why do we make family trees? Why do we look for documents that contain our ancestors’ signatures? What drives us to save boxes of old photographs? What motivates us to display knick-knacks from bygone days? What even is worth keeping?

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Andrew Gaertner
Mystery in History

To live in a world of peace and justice we must imagine it first. For this, we need artists and writers. I write to reach for the edges of what is possible.