Personal History

Facing loss, a photographer creates a tribute to life and memory.

- Barry Tanenbaum

RUSSELL HART WASN’T SURPRISED by the collections he found in his mother’s home as he prepared it for sale. “She had a hard time letting go of things,” he says. “She saw practical value in some, sentimental value in others.”

The things she collected were neatly organized; some were annotated. They were packed into boxes, stacked in cabinets, placed in trays she made herself. There were buttons, zippers, dolls, pieces of cloth, unidentified keys, spools of thread, and so much more.