The objects include furniture, paintings, photographs, clothing, pottery, wallpaper, silverware, jewelry, books, quilts, sculpture, household items and even a 1906 teddy bear that survived in pristine condition (considering it was dragged across the Atlantic by 4-year-old Susan Norton).

Founded in 1910, SPNEA's collections have grown to outrank those of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. One of the largest preservation organizations in the country, it owns 35 historic properties (which are open as museums during the summer months) and has a staff of 75 full-time and 300 part-time employees.

Curators Richard Nylander, Nancy Carlisle and Melinda Talbot went through all of SPNEA's objects and images — some 65,000 of them (sometimes climbing through cobwebbed attics and crawl spaces) — over the course of six months. They carved that number down to the 200 that were strong enough to survive the journey and tell the story they felt needed to be told. After making the selections, it took three years to complete the collateral research and conservation needed for each item.

"I started with an object and never knew where it was going to take me," says Nancy Carlisle, who also wrote the six-pound, 448-page catalog for the show. "Each thing became my favorite thing."

"It is a rare experience," wrote SPNEA enthusiast Nina Fletcher Little, "when a single artifact is able to re-create in the imagination the essence of a given historical period."

The objects in this exhibit do just that by illustrating and bringing to life a rich and surprising story of the lives of the well-to-do and the not-so-well-off that took place in New England from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Many of the stories that accompany the items in the exhibit came from the families that donated the objects and from the society's own extensive research.

The objects on display range from a relic box that has no monetary value to what this reviewer perceives as a priceless Pre-Raphaelite painting.

The "Relic Box" contains two pieces of bread and a cob of corn. The inscription inside the box reads, "This bread was brought to this Country from England in the Year 1630, and has been kept by my Ancestors and myself. Lewis Pierce, Dorchester, July 4, 1855."

The oil-on-canvas portrait "Sara Norton," painted in 1884 by the Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones, is a masterpiece. In this profile, the daughter of Charles Eliot Norton, a leading intellect of his generation, is standing with a violin and bow in her hands. The light seems to emanate from inside her skin in this limited earth-tone palette of colors. Here, the artist managed to capture the seriousness of her position in life (care-taker for the house and her siblings after her mother's early death) in the darkness in her eyes. Sara's innocence may be gone in this portrait, but the grip on her violin and the beautiful music it represents remain intact.

The signature item of this exhibit is a misshapen pewter and wooden-handled "Teapot" (1740-1760) that supposedly belonged to Crispus Attucks, the first man killed in the 1770 Boston Massacre. The history attached to this little teapot is filled with controversy and charged with attachments.

Give yourself plenty of time to view this exhibit. Cards with the background stories of the objects can be found throughout the gallery, and it is these narratives that breathe life into the objects. With their original owners long dead, these items give a voice to their personal histories, having passed down through generations and into the hands of the SPNEA.

The exhibit includes the Sheldon family's "Board Chest" (1699) from Deerfield, Mass., which survived the American Revolution, as well as the Foster family's "Desk and Bookcase" (1765-1775). This classic piece of furniture has a note written by Susan C. Batchelder (dated 1890) affixed to a document drawer. It tells the story of how her grandfather chalked his name inside the back of the drawers before evacuating Boston before the battles of Lexington and Concord — in the event that he might need to prove ownership upon their return to the city. His name is still visible.

Women figure brightly in this exhibit. The cotton "Cradle Quilt" (1836) represents one the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society's fund-raising fairs. Inscribed on one of the stars in this patchwork quilt are the words, "Mother! When around your child/ You clasp your arms in love,/ And when with grateful joy you raise/ Your eyes to God above—/ Think of the negro mother/ When her child is torn away—/ Sold for a little slave — oh, then/ For that poor mother pray!"

Little treasures like the "Sewing Kit," "Stencil Kit," "Sign Language Mug," "Shoes," "Warming Pan," Thatcher "Cradle" and "Tape Loom" sew a tender, sweet thread through the exhibit. The clothing, although beautifully designed and sewn, looks incredibly uncomfortable.

This exhibit illuminates what is not seen in the artifacts on display — what is truly important to us all and has been for hundreds of years. It isn't the object we cherish most but what it represents, the experiences attached to it. In this context, history gives us hope.