We (as it’s not just me) are struggling to come up with two words that better describe ‘things’ and ‘events’.

Artifacts might be a good synonym for ‘things’ but it doesn’t match what we think is the language of our intended audience. ‘Everyday objects’ is better; except the objects being described are from the past 2,000 years. So a candle holder or po might have been everyday objects in the 18th century, but not really any more.

‘Things’ just doesn’t seem right. It comes across as being lazy…we couldn’t think of anything but ‘things’.

And events is equally as difficult. ‘Events’ implies activities that are happening now, or about to happen (this is in the context of a piece of work involving what were once called museums). So could we have ‘historical events’ - that might be better.

There’s no easy answers to this; ‘things’ and ‘events’ might have to do for the prototype, but something sharper is needed for any future developments.

Answers on a postcard….