Think of all the objects you use every minute of every day—the chair you’re sitting in, the clock on the wall, the clothes you’re wearing, the bag you carried to school with you. These are all objects, and someday they may end up in a museum. What do they tell us about your life?   

Museums collect and save objects from the past. Some objects—such as the first American flag—are historically significant, while others are remnants of everyday life, like a lunch box or a pencil. No matter what type of an object it is, it can tell us something about the past. How was it used? Who owned it? Was it common or rare? What was it for? Historic objects give us many clues about what was important to people in the past and the technology they used to accomplish their work, play, and art. Objects remind us that the past was just as colorful and three-dimensional as life is today.