Curating my Home Archive

It started with adding my Dad's 8 track case onto a TV console and placing 5 drumsticks into a vase as my way to honor his musical passion. Then I discovered a shoebox under Aunt Stefy's bed, inside were letters from my Dad's bootcamp in the Navy, pictures of his high school band, handwritten recipe cards, and my grandfather's measuring tape. Nothing was really in order and I didn't have direction for how I would preserve them but I knew they all had meaning.

I was holding the pieces of an entire lineage and story in my home. An entire story that would lose its value if I didn't care for them and preserve them. In those moments, I promised myself that I would make a dream come true by starting my own home archive. An archive that encompassed the lives, stories, and moments from my family.

Curating my home with what I held on to, I began collecting everything. Everything from family photos, negative film roll, books, bibles, old pagers, and even Stefy's Opium bottles with remnants of the scent still lingering. I kept my great grandmother's gloves, my great grandfather's watch, and Stefy's silk scarves.

Each item became a doorway into a moment and a reminder that our lives have so much meaning. The things in our homes aren't clutter but intricate layers and full of depth. Museum worthy heirloom pieces that I knew need to be curated and installed in my home as an archival collection.

At first, I didn't know the right way to store old photographs, how to digitize them, or perserve delicate Bibles. I started reading archival books and watching tutorials online. I watched tutorials, ordered acid-free sleeves, and slowly began labeling everything processing my first archival collection : The Home of Andrea Fenise.

But, I also gave myself permission to be a student and learn. This archive isn’t about perfection. It is about presence, stories, and finding meaning. Some items are still in a storage box. Others are framed and waiting on a guest to initiate conversation about what they see. I want to feel connected to my history and have it for view like in a museum.

As my collection grows, I want this archive to take shape and to have its own meaning, not just for me. It’s for my daughter and son, my cousins, and every family archivist or chosen one who will continue to carry the story forward. It’s also an ode to black women and their homes. Those who came before us who "hold on to everything". Our homes and our interior life is a reflection of our beauty, passions, creativity, and culture. My home archive and the home archives of countless Black women are a living, breathing act of care, culture, curation, and preservation.