Tanja Hollander

Back to all Ephemera

CROWD sourced ephemera:

PAGE 1 -Last names A-H: Elisa Albert, Ed + Miller Schwarzschild; Beatrice Appleton Mathis; Samantha Appleton; Áslaug Ásgeirsdóttir; Hillary Babick; Jordia Benjamin; Kate Berger; Jeff Bergman; Sarah Braik; Vicky Braik-Bourget; Bill Brayton; Nico Chin; Jim Chute; Sarah Coleman; Kate Cordaro; Lorraine DeLaney; Nicole Deller; Natalie Diaz; Mark Dion; Angela Dufresne; Colin Dusenbury; Peter “Bubba” Ellef; Lauren Fensterstock + Aaron T Stephan; Katie Fitch, Joe, Winona + Delila Wardwell; Aprile Gallant; Jessie Gerteis; Christine Gianopoulos; Kristi Gibson; Heather Grace Gordy; Layne Gregory; Molly Haight; Jessie Hallowell; Donald Hankinson; Séan Alonzo Harris; Stew Henderson; Martha Henry; Alison “Wooly” Hildreth; Susan Hodara; Emma Hollander; Henry Hollander; Tanja Hollander; Toby Hollander.

PAGE 2 - Last names I-Z: Jillian Impastato; Peggy Jenkins; Susan Johnston; Siri Kaur, Stacey King; James Laurila; Justin Levesque; Sarah Mahoney; Richard Mann; Denise Markonish; Melissa Marsella; Jan Marston; Johanna Moore; Lisa Nelson + Chris Johnson; Barry O’Meara; Joy Passanante; j.e. paterak; Randy Potts; Leslie Rainer, Juli Raja; Tracie Reed; Wendy Richmond; Gillian Schair; Gloria D. Sclar, Neil Shea, Lynne Shulman; Aldona Shumway; Jessica Skwire Routhier; Sandra Ste. George; Kio Stark; Cathy Stewart; Brooke Stoker; Sally Struever; Emily Sunderman; Scott Toney; Susan Trask; Susan Wiggin.

PAGES 3 -6 - Freshman Seminar students from University at Albany,Albany, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Teen Curatorial Study Hall; The Telling Room Teen Summer Camp, Portland, ME + Oak Hill High School, Wales, ME; New England Arab American Organization, Westbrook, ME

House Portrait: Keliy Anderson-Staley IN MEMORIAM: Zia Sunta; Ray Hilliard; Kanishka Raja; Ken Toner.

I welcome new participants, there is no fee to participate. More information here.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

PAGE ONE-Last names a-h

Elisa Albert, Writer, 41, Ed Schwarzschild, Writer, 55, Miller Schwarzschild, newly 11. Albany, NY

Elisa: Precious artifacts of a precious family, forged out of blood, sweat, tears, and laughter. Precious to no one but us. A flower you press in a large, heavy book and then forget about. What is time and where does it go? Einstein said we think we move through time but really time moves through us. 

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Beatrice Appleton Mathis, Age 7, Rockport, ME

It was a little fun choosing the objects. It’s fun to know that these are treasured things for me and for my mom.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Samantha Appleton, Photographer, 45, Rockport, ME

My one regret with this exercise is that I wish I had taken more time to choose them. I would have edited myself better and remembered other things. Yet... each of these items tells a little about my psychology, my history, and my allegiances to memory. I recommend doing this because it doesn't just let you take the time to appreciate your history, it gives you the space to let some things go. 

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Áslaug Ásgeirsdóttir, Professor, 55, Auburn, ME

Once I decided to participate, it wasn’t that difficult to select the objects. These are items that I take care not to lose when I have moved. Knowing that they will be shared with others makes me self-conscious though. In receiving the images, I loved seeing how they are displayed, and how the different colors of the background draw out details. I also realized there are a couple of themes in my ephemera. Even though I have made my home in the United States, most of the ephemera reminds me of Iceland, my family and friends there. The other theme is movement, be it the driftwood, the shells, mementos of travel. 

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Hillary Babick, Artist & Fundraiser, 31, Boston, MA.

It has been an awesome project. I’ve been collaborating with my parents in Texas to choose items I carefully saved from girlhood. Turns out I’ve been very sentimental about objects and the memories and people they remind me of my entire life. It’s been interesting to reflect on the objects I held on to as I went from child to young adult especially as I’ve entered my 30’s and am now thinking of having kids and entering a new life stage. I’m excited to see a portrait of my first 30ish years.

A surprising aspect of this project was how special it has been to connect with my parents over these items and their stories. It’s been over a year since I’ve seen them in person and I am not sure when I will get to hug them next. Thank you for bringing your project to my family!

The project has also given me a lot to think about in terms of what I saved from a young age as a very sentimental child (I added to the box of pine needles for years before we took down our Christmas tree each year) and how I've grown up into an equally sentimental adult.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Jordia Benjamin, Museum Educator and Community Engagement Specialist, 34, Waterville, ME

Choosing these objects evoked many emotions. I had to stop several times because of the precious memories attached to each object. Sometimes tears were shared because some of the objects came from loved ones no longer alive. These items are vessels of love, joy and remembrance. They make me think and reflect how blessed my life has been. It was hard choosing which objects to pick. I knew I wanted objects to represent moments that are not only special and sacred to me but my whole immediate family. These objects helped form me; they tell my family story, a migration story, a love story, lifelong lessons of morals, sacrifice, loss, joy, steadfastness, strengthening our bonds and uniting us together.   

 The scanned images felt as if they had a life of their own; standing independent; outside of the symbolic and sentimental value they hold to me. I feel as if they connect more broadly to others, to invoke conversation or reflection on other’s memories.

 (Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Kate Berger, Science Teacher, 39, Denver, CO

This was an intense experience. Throughout several family moves, I have whittled my memories down to what fits in one 2'x3' plastic tub. I thought that would make this process quick and easy. That was incorrect. I spent 10 hours over two days going through my memory box. I started with 30 items and slowly whittled them down to 16 over the next two days. As a result of this project I reconnected with my kindergarten teacher, my 5th grade teacher, and my SCUBA instructor from camp. What a wonderful opportunity to travel down memory lane!

This was like two extra, free days of therapy for me! It allowed me to process a few challenging times in a safe and joyful way. Oh! I also sent Brandi Carlile a DM with a picture of the ticket and pick. She replied! So you never know. You too may get to communicate with your hero!

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Jeff Bergman, Art Dealer + Activist, 43, Tarrytown, NY

It made me nostalgic, but also reminded me how little the actual object mattered. Except for the things my sons created, my connection to these objects is about the power of my nostalgic response it creates. Digging through boxes and drawers is fun and (during the lockdown) makes me wistful for travel.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Sarah Braik, Retired, 69, Portland, ME

This was a profoundly moving experience. I spent Thanksgiving alone this year, not even eating anything special. I decided to spend a good bit of the day gathering these ephemera. I have been reminded of people I love and who love me, and of times in my life I don’t often remember. These objects have reminded me what an interesting life I have had, and of how creative I can be when I take the time for it.

I would absolutely recommend this to everyone. It’s a good way to take stock of one’s life and to contemplate what has been special about it.

Vicky Braik-Bourget, Retired, 66, Kentwood, MI

Choosing the items was very moving. I forgot, for one thing, how people used to actually write letters all the time. I have many letters that were sent to me back in the 1980's - some from people that I can't even remember. All the letters said, in closing, Write back soon!

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Bill Brayton, 64, Sculptor, Conway, MA

I kept bringing out things I have held onto from boxes and drawers and files. Then I began eliminating objects until I was down to a group that referenced pivotal time periods, places, people and experiences. I’m not sure what they mean as a group yet.

I also thought about whether something was too personal, too irreplaceable, too valuable, too big, too generic, beside the point, etc.

The Ephemera Project invited me to choose 16 things that usually stay hidden, and then present them through you to an outside audience. My choices led to some new discoveries around childhood, family, relationships, travels, and chance events that have shaped my life.

Nico Chin, Adult Learning Coach, 36, Lewiston, ME

It is a beautiful way to reflect on the things that often slip through the cracks of life. Not the big loud things - the bright, meaningful things. I walked through my house, looking for the items that connect to my heart and remind me of who I am, and I laid them out on the table to double check that when put together they reflect the sides of my energy and spirit. After a bit of mixing and matching, the experience of mirroring my energies in ephemera felt complete.

I realized, everything I am giving you sits in my home- where I can not only see them, but touch them and connect with them regularly. And I started to laugh because I have been doing this since I was a toddler, collecting, touching, treasuring ephemera. And I realize I’m each of these things remind me of pieces of who I am, my true spirit. And living in a racist, sexist, oppressive society, surrounding myself with these items and connecting with them is an unconscious way (that through this project became conscious) of grounding in who I am in the face of that oppression and lies. It is a way to feel my truth each day.......

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

James Chute, Artist and former court clerk, 70, Freeport, ME

Choosing the items felt easy, because they are mostly related to my primary interest, art, or to people I know well and I could give them a bit of acknowledgement. I did not dig back into the long ago, which would have been more stressful because I tend to remember mostly the awkward moments of my past.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Sarah Coleman, Educator & Arts Administrator, 40, Bath, ME

Choosing the items was joyful, poignant, and challenging. It coincided with entering my 40s and it felt serendipitous to move through this remembering. All of these items bring a really clear image of a place and time to mind - and how it threads itself to who I am today. Each one's memory is so much bigger than the written description. It took a while to pair down what I wanted to include but I settled on the final 16 by laying all the items on a table and sorting/curating them as a whole. I was surprised by how some items that I thought I'd want to include didn't make it through and vice versa.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Kate Cordaro, Nonprofit Office Manager, 41, Portland, ME

I really enjoyed the process of choosing items, but the more I thought about it, the more challenging the task became. I had to remind myself that I wasn't assembling a snapshot of my entire essence in 16 objects. I tried to focus on things that are part of my everyday landscape--lots of stuff that's been on my fridge for years, but I don't always think about why, and also on things that, upon a little examination, I found it a little surprising that I still had, or had so easily at hand. Then it became interesting to think about why I still had them, and why I kept different things in different places of prominence. 

I think no matter how you approach the project you have the opportunity to reflect on something interesting--you can be as casual or thoughtful about your selection of objects and they'll still show you something interesting about why you have them, what they say about what's important to you, and how exposing them to someone else changes your engagement with them. And even the images of your weird ugly stuff are gorgeous!  I felt a more emotional reaction/response to the memories I associate with the objects when I saw the images versus when I see the thing...does that make sense? 

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Lorraine DeLaney, Registrar Colby College Museum of Art, 43, Brunswick, ME

As a museum collection management professional, it was fun and refreshing to “curate” my own collection of objects. Sifting through my “memory boxes” was bittersweet – there are joyful memories associated with most of these objects, and others that evoke a little a bit sadness. It was comforting to see them all again. They are little snippets, akin to photographs, that help me remember the people, places and events with which they are connected.

The trinkets, fragments, and tchotchkes (oh how I love that word) we gather into our own “collections” are more often remnants of our past and serve to reflect our stories back to us. Sometimes it’s reassuring to remember where you’ve been and how you came to be where you are now.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Nicole Deller, Fmr advocate; stay at home parent, 49, New York, NY

The experience choosing was sometimes sweet, sometimes cringey. I would recommend participating. Taking stock is important, and so is this project.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Natalie Diaz, Chief of Staff, Time Equities Inc., 32, New York, NY

It was fun to think about choosing items that are meaningful to me - from personal family items to love notes to miscellaneous items that remind me of the different phases and experiences in my life. I can be sentimental with items, so it wasn't hard to identify these items. Just as you are trying to create portraits via self-chosen ephemera, the process of choosing ephemera allows one to take a decisive role in the creation of their portraits in this project. And it triggered some self-reflection and trips down memory lane, which I enjoy. 

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Mark Dion, Artist, 60, Copake, NY 

 I am a life long collector of ephemera. As a child my mother bought me flimsy craft paper scrapbooks in which I would paste images cut out magazines. My favorite magazine was “Famous Monsters of Film Land”. I would collect advertising bills of movies playing at the local cinema from shop windows. Sadly, all this material is now lost, being sold in a yard sale by my brother (along with my trading card and comic book collection) when I moved off to college. However, the template was set, and I still enjoy pasting images in a scrapbook, which I use as reference for my art work.

 Some of the objects I sent to Tanja Hollander are gleaned from across the globe. The Toucan Match box for example was collected in the early 1990’s when I worked in Belize as a volunteer at the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary. These locally produced matches were flimsy and often failed. The local joke was “one match can’t but two can”. Thus the name Toucan. Interesting it is not actually a toucan depict on the box but an aracari.

One of the pleasures of being an artist is that I am not merely a consumer of ephemera but I have privilege of producing ephemera as well. The patches I included in the box sent to Tanja, are some of those made for various projects. Most of the installations, classes, and exhibitions these patches were produced for, where themselves ephemeral, so the patches are the only lasting elements of these endeavors. There is also a business card which was produced for my project “Bureau of the Center for the Study of Surrealism and its Legacy”, which was an installation of a surrealist’s office at The Manchester Museum. On the card is a phone number connected to a phone and answering machine in the installation. The business cards were produced to be left around town at pubs, schools, restaurants, train stations, etc. When people called the number to make an inquiry the answering machine would pick up and the messages which could be heard by anyone who happened to be viewing the installation.

The various cigarette and trading cards and box prizes, I recover from flea markets and curiosity shops across the world. I have quite a lot of this material. Much of it speaks to my inordinate fondness for dinosaurs, polar bears and little girls catching butterflies.

The last piece I would like to mention is something of my father’s. It is a small celluloid WWII fighter plane pulling letters which spell out his name R O G E R. It is one of my few small tokens from a man who will always remain an enigma to me.

It is with great anxiety that post these objects to Tanja Hollander. I do not entirely trust the post and so I eagerly await the objects final return.

Angela Dufresne, Artist/Teacher, 53, Brooklyn, NY

The ephemera I chose, I live with all the time. I just grabbed random shit off the shelf. It’s a tidy swath. There could have been a million other ones, but I’m not a hoarder. I included things from Dawn Clements and Lizzie Bonaventura, two important relationships.

 Dawn was my bestie for twenty years before she died in 2018. I knew her from the minute I moved to New York, basically. When she died, I was in charge of her estate and got some of her stuff. And it’s some of my most important shit. Dawn was an artist that gave me all these me windows into making work in ways that that I didn’t think was allowed. Like painting from movies, thinking more about movies when you’re thinking about your art, instead of thinking about art with a capitol A. We inevitably supported each other every possible way professionally, too. We wrote recommendations for each other, Guggenheim applications, RISD, etc.

 Lizzie was my partner since May of 2006, and kind of still is, so that would make me a polygamist if we were married. She started acting significantly weird in late 2016, early 2017 with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) which is the most loathsome disease on the earth. We travelled the world together and had a massive network of friends that loved and supported both of us. She used to tell the longest winded hilarious stories that were just enthralling. Lizzie was a really successful head scenic artist for film and TV, she worked on every season of nurse Jackie, except for one. She loved Edie Falco, and Edie Falco loved her. Lizzie was very matronly to her crew, she had a bunch of queens and a bunch of women working for her. She mentored a ton of people into United Scenic Artists Local USA 829 union. She has all the benefits of having been in the union, which is something to note- like a full pension and SSDI, which helps her afford this horrible catastrophe that happened to her. She was an amazing painter that was beloved, but the worst self-promoter on the face of the earth. She is having a show at Sarah Lawrence in November 2023.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Colin Dusenbury, Designer, 44, Freeland, WA

Ephemera of a Transition

It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I am not in the same place as all of my ephemera. As a designer, I have always carefully curated the objects that I have around me. As someone who thinks that the objects that surround us are important, I felt that I did not have my important objects at hand.

As I started looking around my new temporary home, it occurred to me that all homes are essentially temporary, regardless of the length of time we spend in them, and that all important objects are in themselves ephemeral, temporary, as well.

As soon as I allowed this realization to sink in, I was able to see that the few objects I brought with me from Los Angeles, as well as the natural objects that I have collected on my walks through the Trillium Forest (my home for now), I started to see important objects all around me.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Peter “Bubba” Ellef, 52, Landscape contractor, Unionville, CT

It was a walk down memory lane, l love holding onto and looking into the past. That's why I keep the stuff. It's a different form of a portrait, it reminded me what's important.

You don't see a dollar bill in there, it’s all really important stuff.

 I wasn’t nervous sending the things to you, but I WAS so glad to see them come back. It was another trip down memory lane, and it was like Christmas, I unwrapped everything and put them back in their places. I would definitely recommend it, it brought me from the past to the present.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Lauren Fensterstock, artist, 45 + Aaron T Stephan, 46, artist, Portland, ME

What was the experience like choosing the items?

Lauren: I debated a bunch. I was surprised by how long I had kept some of the most ephemeral items. There were other things I would definitely not let out of my possession. Some of these items I recognize as important, while some have gained meaning just because they have hung around so long.

Aaron: Easy.

Were you nervous sending the items to me?

Lauren: A little. As I mentioned above there were things I was definitely not going to part with and did not include. There were a few items here that rode the edge and that I would be devastated to lose.

Aaron: Yes.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Katie Fitch, Clinical Research Nurse Practitioner, 48; Joe Wardwell, Artist, 48; Winona Wardwell, 14; Delila Wardwell, 11, Jamaica Plain, MA

Katie: Seeing the scanned version makes them seem priceless, they feel more important than my plastic tub of memories. While going through the bin it was fun remembering the good times.

Joe: I knew exactly what I was going to do when I heard the project: 80s t-shirts that I still fit into. I was nervous handing them over - they are collector’s items in most countries.

Winona: None of these were very emotional, they more brought back memories that I‘ve had. I picked them because I wanted to share the memories. The scans made them look fancier when they’re sitting in my room.

Delila: It makes you feel like the things you’ve saved for this long are actually worth saving and it feels really good. I was anxious gathering them, I didn’t want people to think these things were worthless and not worth saving.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Aprile Gallant, Curator, Smith College Museum of Art, 54, Northampton, MA

Initially, my first impulse was to send only things related to my mother. I discarded that early because it didn’t really give a wider picture of my attachment to objects. I was ridiculed for this during my childhood, which still makes me feel that there’s something strange about it. But I suppose this quality is the key reason why I chose to work in a profession that is so object based. It’s also amusing to me that my descriptions of the objects are so specific. It’s as if I am cataloguing them for posterity.

I made my choices very quickly, but then lingered for weeks adding and subtracting things. During this time, quite suddenly, something would pop into my head and I would add it to the pile. As a professional curator, I found myself trying to craft a story—one that would be revealing, but not TOO revealing. The need for context and meaning-making through objects is something that I can’t apparently turn off.

The whole process, frankly, terrified me which is why I thought I should do it.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Jessie Gerteis, Research Consultant, 47, Roslindale, MA

It took me a while to choose the items, longer than I expected. I used to save everything, but I think I have become less sentimental as I have gotten older. Or, maybe after several moves, I am just less attached to things than I use to be. Most of the things I have kept to remind myself of the past are notes, letters, and photographs – but I wanted to pick things for this project that would tell more of visual story. Going through all of my old things, I was surprised by the emotional energy they still hold, and the impact that looking through them had on me. It was both sad and sweet to remember. I was surprised about how many events or details or people I had known and cared about deeply at one time that I had fully forgotten – and how some little thing I had saved helped bring a memory back. It was easy to find several things I wanted to send, but finding sixteen unique things was hard. In the end, I found things to share that were tucked away in almost every room of my home. It was an interesting exercise to think about what things are special to me, and why – and think about which of those things could be understood by someone else.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Christine Gianopoulos, “staying in the game”, 75, Greene, ME

I am a “tosser” by  nature. When Tanja asked for ephemera, I told her it wasn’t likely I had anything of interest. So, I surprised myself at what turned up. And, since then I’ve found more, and thought, “oh, this would have been better than what I gave her; maybe I didn’t do it right.” The story of my life.

I also interest myself that much of my ephemera is linked to my “motherline” and a 1969 stay in India, and not much to my husband and son, who are most cherished in my life. Maybe because they are “present,” and the ephemera is “past”?

Many objects were right at hand, although I hadn’t paid attention to them in a long time. So, it was pleasing to look at each object and bring up the memory, although it made me miss my mother and grandmother.

When I saw the scans, my first impression was that my “junk” looked more impressive in the photographs. Then I thought about what this collection of objects says about me. Still thinking about that. It’s an exercise in reflection using objects rather than thoughts.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Kristi Gibson, Bookseller, Catskill NY, 46

It was really interesting trying to figure out what I would count as ephemera or even if I had much at all - I've moved so often that I've paired down everything I own at least 7 or 8 times in the past 20 years (often to what would fit into a car). As I looked around though, I began to remember that I'd stuffed things in books as bookmarks and randomly taped things to my fridge which I hadn't really noticed or looked at closely in years. It was really a process of looking with new eyes at what was all around me. 

Heather Grace Gordy, Designer, Energy and Environment Healer, 47, Portland, OR

I love seeing these objects through the eyes of another, they look different to me, like a collection of fantasy memories. Choosing my ephemera was fun, random and memory-evoking. It was a self-history exploration, and it’s crazy how this made me learn history of the ephemera I didn’t know anything about.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Layne Gregory, Gardener, Social Worker/Artist, 65, Falmouth, ME

My parents were not savers nor collectors. I went to 5 different elementary schools growing up... so we moved frequently. Toys, possessions, mementos were not kept. In addition, I come from cowboys on one side of my family and lumber jacks on the other. There were not many valuable objects to pass down. My ephemera are markers in time. Little bits and pieces of relationships and events that had meaning for me at the time they occurred. When I started to search for objects to put into this collection I had no idea of what I would include...until I starting looking. Many of the objects I found in jewelry boxes I have had since early grade school on up. Boxes that were spared the moving purges of my youth. As I explored each jewel box, I was surprised by what I found and what my younger self chose to keep. Notes from grade school boyfriends, broken watches and broken jewelry that were given to me by loving grandparents, to name a few. Some of the objects reflect my children and the important impact becoming a wife and mother has had on my life. Participating in this project has offered me a way to illustrate and punctuate the relationships and experiences that have helped to buoy me. They are tender reminders of what deeply matters, what can make a difference to a young child growing up and the meaningful purpose I have come to find in having a family.

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Molly Haight, Editor, 46, State College, PA

I have been finding this a very interesting process, and not just for identifying my most precious pieces of junk.  I have also found several things that I initially put on the table, but then thought.... actually...I don't think I even need that anymore. The last scrap of my 1st grade best friend who later became super popular and afraid to be seen speaking to such a nerd as me has just gone in the garage sale/goodwill box.  I hope she is no longer a slave to peer pressure and is living a happy life somewhere. The stuffed bee won for me at the carnival by my first boyfriend may also be on its way out.

In any case, I have assembled a set of my little scrap of paper treasures that I do need to keep forever and ever (I think right now). (Also a sad side-lot of things that didn't quite make the cut.) 

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Jessie Hallowell, Mom, Teacher, Chef, Self-employed doing painting/drywall/light carpentry, 49, North Haven, ME

The process of walking around my house, excavating items I've saved, and digging through boxes was incredible. It brought up a lot of memories, both beautiful and hard, but really brought me a lot of gratitude for the life I've lived and the people who have been (and are!) in my life. I could see how I've grown and changed, and the ways in which I am still the same person as I was in middle school. That was powerful. I was reminded of other things that I'd thought I held onto and couldn't find... a particular origami frog named Jeeves, for instance. I have moved so many times, and I was frustrated at the things that were missing. I may have thrown some things away in a move, or in an attempt to declutter my life. They could be in boxes somewhere, or ones that I didn't open.

I also realized that I have lived an entire life in scraps of paper. I didn't include any of these, really, because there was such an overwhelming number of them. Paper is both the bane of my existence (the major source of clutter in a home without a desk/office), and what holds the trail of my years and thoughts and feelings. I still have quite a few old journals and hundreds of old letters. I have boxes full of my kiddos' artwork and school work. It was also too difficult to select just one journal or letter or drawing to represent everything. These things could be a whole installment that would be a portrait of my life. They were also the things that were the most joyful, and in some cases difficult, to go through. The process was incredible, and I am so thankful to have been given the opportunity to examine my life in this way. 

I would recommend this to anyone, because it is a beautiful lens through which to examine your life. It makes you think about why you've held onto certain bits and pieces, and when woven together, what holds meaning in your life. It is both a fun and a powerful process.

I was not nervous about anything happening to them...but it is nerve-wracking in the nakedness of sharing these things. They may be small and silly or meaningful and profound to you, but they exist in your life for a reason that you understand. It is hard to convey that to anyone else. There is always the fear that comes with vulnerability, the fear of judgement or exposing too much of yourself. I am becoming less concerned with this as I get older, but I have generally been a private and introverted person. I also second-guessed everything I chose, and thought of so many other items as soon as I had mailed the box! 

(Click on images to read descriptions. On mobile tap dot, bottom right corner of screen.)

Donald Hankinson, Osteopath, 69, Cape Elizabeth, ME

This was a very interesting process. At first, I made a list of 16 of the most significant aspects of my life, after which, I intended to find objects that captured their meaning. Then I found myself slowly gravitating towards choosing the items in my life with which I most resonate, and then seeing if I could discover the meaning in that resonance. In the end, I have pursued some hybrid of the two approaches.

Looking at my life through this different and unexpected lens, has revealed hidden meanings through my resonance with the objects that I have gathered around me. And, because that experience was grounded in their physical reality, it felt more like I was discovering an actual truth. In fact, when I first saw the pictures of the completed images, I realized that some things didn’t fit and that there was some that were missing. So I swapped out 6 of them. Thank you for your patience, Tanja, and for treating these precious objects with such care and respect.    

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Séan Alonzo Harris, Photographer, 54, Waterville, ME

Sifting through the things in my studio and trying to figure out something representing and talking to me is complicated. It's like editing a body of work with things that surround you that have weaved their way into one's life. Picking the items was a back-and-forth, maybe this or that. But once the items or returned, there's something special that happens. You are reintroduced to your ephemerals like their precious artifacts from your life that you have to unwrap. It took me by surprise. I genuinely wish I had videotaped this process of unwrapping and rediscovering. Thank you, Tanja!

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Stew Henderson, Artist, 65, Northport, ME

Most of these things came out of my tool box and studio. One thing I learned by gathering these objects is that ephemera is stuff that you mindlessly keep around while keepsakes you keep intentionally. I have have chosen some of each. Not sure these are my prized possessions, but its the stuff I like enough to keep around.

I don't remember specific dates for the objects, some are quite old and a few are contemporary. It was fun to go through stuff and try to decide which objects are interesting to me and what might be unusual or interesting to others, knowing that they would be in a public forum. I think it's common for people my age to start going through stuff and getting rid of things that you or anybody could use or want. Some of the ephemera items that I sent to you have sentimental value while others surprised me that I still had them. All of them went back where I gathered them from. 

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Martha Henry, Writer, 59, Cambridge, MA

I’m a minimalist. I don’t keep many things, so the few items I hang onto seem imbued with a certain power. They remind me either of someone/something I love/d or I like the way they look.

We reveal ourselves in countless ways. What we wear, how we say goodbye, how often we wash the sheets. Some objects we decide to keep, others we fail to discard. To choose 16 objects that you’ve kept for months or years, items you just as easily could have thrown away, shows you both your history and a snapshot of the present moment. Who wouldn’t want to see their junk turned into art?

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Alison “Wooly” Hildreth, Artist, 89, Falmouth, ME

This ephemera came from my studio. I’ve been in the studio for over thirty years and you get to a point where you don’t see what’s around you. To see something through someone else’s eyes is always very very fascinating. The images so are beautiful - I don’t think I ever looked carefully at the blocks and the pendants are so mysterious. The wool looks like intestines and the pig is so important looking! I would absolutely recommend this to someone else, you are so generous with your time.

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Susan Hodara, journalist, memoirist, educator; 67, Mount Kisco, NY

I was staying alone in my 94-year-old mother’s light-filled apartment on the sixth floor of the senior residence in Bethesda, MD, where she has lived for the past seven years. My mother was temporarily in the skilled nursing wing on the lower level of the complex, having fallen a week earlier and broken her femur near her hip. I spent most of my time in her room downstairs, but in the evening I had her apartment to myself. Usually when I visit, I sleep on the lumpy sofa bed in her den. This time I was sleeping in her bed.

I chose these items the morning I was leaving to return home to New York. I didn’t ask my mother if I could borrow them; I didn’t tell her about this project. I moved quickly through her rooms, almost guiltily, as if I were being watched. I chose items that spoke to me of her values and her idiosyncrasies, but I refused to take anything I thought she might miss when she was well enough to come back upstairs. I threw them into a crumpled plastic supermarket bag that I found behind her trash bin under her sink. (I also felt guilty about taking the bag, because my mother saves them to hold her garbage.)

I am determined to return all these objects back to my mother’s apartment, even though I doubt she’ll notice they are missing.

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Emma Hollander, Managing Partner at Trina’s Starlite Lounge, 37, Cambridge, MA

Gathering things was harder than I thought it would be. I got a lot of pressure from my sister (I’ve spent my life taking part in her art projects) and this one was moving and emotional.

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Henry Hollander, Age 4, Westbrook, ME

On a Etihad Airlines flight to India, I asked the flight attendant for a present for my nephew, Henry. She returned with a camel purse, with crayons and a coloring book inside. When I brought it home to Henry, he immediately filled it with his most prized possessions. They alternate from day to day, when he came over for an overnight, we worked together to scan the contents. He picked out the background colors, titled the images and told me why he loved each one.

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Tanja Hollander, Artist, 49, Auburn, ME

During a studio visit with my friend Wendy, she asked if I had collected sixteen pieces of ephemera for this project. I hadn’t. I had the collection of close to 2000 travel pieces from Are You Really My Friend?

It was interesting to put together a curated collection as opposed to “saving everything.” I wandered around my house and studio, grabbed then edited. It turned out to be a pretty good portrait of me: travel, art, water, friendship.

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Toby Hollander, Retired lawyer and guardian ad litem, 75, Portland, ME

Since ephemera was originally defined as old writings, I’ll start with the writings from my collection.  It feels like I am taking a short-cut on my memoir, which in its first draft will be hundreds of pages.  Perhaps these objects, saved for no really good reason, will turn out to be the story I am trying to tell.

Choosing the items wasn’t difficult.  I knew two places to look: my nightstand drawer and my sock drawer.  Some of the items I had found going through photos and collections I had gathered as part of my life’s exploration of my memoir. Old ticket stubs, membership cards etc.  Many of the feelings I had for these old memories I have been living with for the four years that I have been writing my memoir. Nostalgia – a type of sadness, joy, vindication that concrete evidence exists to corroborate my memories.

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