Exhibit Conclusion

By inviting people into this building and sharing its stories, we could forge a better understanding of the past, a meaningful connection to current social issues, and create a wider sense of empathy. Through this building, we could form a better, more encompassing understanding of American identity.

We started as a story. An old tenement building, stuck in the middle of a block on the Lower East Side, all but forgotten. Families, emerging out of the past to shed light on our present and future. And stuff, the things they owned and loved. The things they lost and the things we found. The things that bring our stories into vivid color, that fill our stories with the objects and routines of daily life.

Everybody has stuff. Objects that help us remember and tell our stories, that historians would want to research to learn about us. The goal of In Praise of Stuff was to encourage you to look through what surrounds you and appreciate any connection you make to the past. There’s always stuff to share, and we hope you will share it with us. While we have certain strict rules about what physical donations we can accept, the Tenement Museum will never turn down a story. You can add an object and your unique history to our collections by submitting to Your Story, Our Story, our crowdsourced digital storytelling exhibit, exploring who Americans are through objects, traditions, and stories.

The Tenement Museum houses one of the most unique collections in the world, but we don’t have your story yet. These stories, and the stuff within them – whether it’s a beloved recipe, an old pair of scissors, a well-used sofa, or a memory, worn and soft after repeated tellings – can remind each of us that we are here, that we exist, and that there is always something to learn from each other.