A Community Memory Exhibition Opening August 1, 2026
Every family kept something.
A photograph tucked inside a Bible.
A handwritten recipe card stained from years of use.
A letter folded and unfolded until the creases became part of the story.
A tool worn smooth by work.
A dress, a lunch bucket, a military patch, a small object saved because someone could not let it go.
Haus of Taylor Gallery is proud to announce What We Kept, a community memory exhibition opening Saturday, August 1, 2026, in Tazewell, Virginia.
Built from the objects, photographs, and stories that still carry meaning in Southwest Virginia, What We Kept invites families, neighbors, artists, historians, and community members to help create an exhibition rooted in memory, place, and shared history.
What Did Your Family Keep?
This exhibition begins with a simple question:
What did your family keep?
We are looking for meaningful objects and stories connected to family, work, home, faith, place, loss, love, survival, and memory.
Submissions may include:
- Family photographs
- Letters
- Recipes
- Tools
- Work objects
- Clothing or uniforms
- Family Bibles
- Keepsakes
- Handmade items
- Oral histories
- Business or Main Street artifacts
- Objects tied to Tazewell County or Southwest Virginia life
The object does not need to be valuable in the traditional sense. It only needs to carry a story worth remembering. Sometimes the most important item in a family is worth very little financially and everything emotionally.
A Living Archive of Southwest Virginia Memory
What We Kept is not only an exhibition of objects. It is a living archive of the people, places, and memories that shaped this region.
Each selected submission will become part of a carefully curated gallery experience honoring the stories behind the objects. Through photographs, written stories, object labels, and selected audio elements, the exhibition will invite visitors to slow down and consider what gets carried forward from one generation to the next.
Some stories never make it into museums or history books. They live in drawers, attics, barns, recipe boxes, closets, tool sheds, and family conversations.
This exhibition gives those stories a place.
In Collaboration with Local History
As part of the exhibition, Haus of Taylor Gallery is working to connect personal memory with the broader historical record of our region.
Selected historical pieces will be curated in collaboration with the Tazewell County Historical Society, creating a bridge between family stories and the larger history of Southwest Virginia.
Haus of Taylor Gallery has also commissioned an original work of art for What We Kept. This piece will be auctioned during the opening reception, with proceeds benefiting the Tazewell County Historical Society and its work to preserve local history.
Community Submissions Are Now Open
We are now accepting community submissions for consideration.
If your family has an object, photograph, letter, recipe, tool, keepsake, or story connected to Southwest Virginia, we invite you to share it with us.
Selected participants may be contacted for additional details, photographs, or audio storytelling as the exhibition develops.
Submit your story or object here:
https://haus-taylor.com/submit/
Sponsor Opportunities Are Now Open
What We Kept is also seeking community partners and sponsors.
Local businesses, organizations, civic groups, banks, foundations, and regional partners are invited to help bring this public cultural project to life.
Sponsorship helps support exhibition materials, story documentation, community outreach, printing, opening reception needs, sponsor recognition, and the public presentation of this shared memory project.
Explore sponsorship opportunities here:
https://haus-taylor.com/sponsor/
Opening Reception
What We Kept will open to the public on:
Saturday, August 1, 2026
Haus of Taylor Gallery
Tazewell, Virginia
The opening reception will bring together community stories, selected objects, historical pieces, original artwork, and a shared celebration of the people and memories that continue to shape this region.
More reception details will be announced soon.
What Did Your Family Keep?
Every family carried something forward.
Maybe it was carefully saved.
Maybe it was almost forgotten.
Maybe it has been waiting for someone to ask about it.
With What We Kept, Haus of Taylor Gallery invites Southwest Virginia to remember together.
Learn more about the exhibition here:
https://haus-taylor.com/exhibition/what-we-kept/
