US Entrenching Tool - Tunneling Through Borders
Artifact 1:
By Adam Teske
Great Grandad:While serving in the German army during WW1, my Great Grandad came upon the US shovel. It was similar in performance to the German issued Kleines Schanzzeug shovel. Why he kept it is a mystery lost to history. When the Nazi regime started gaining power, he and my great grandma were lucky enough to make it through the US immigration lottery. They were only allowed minimal luggage, and the shovel was one of the few possessions they took with them on their trip across the sea to Ellis Island, on their train ride to Chicago, and into their future home.All the effort my great grandad put into transporting the shovel from the frontlines to his home in Chicago shows its significance to him. To get the shovel in the first place, he had many borders to pass, country borders, trench lines, and social borders of keeping a US military item as a German soldier.
Ellis Island 1930s
Opa -
My Opa grew up with the shovel his entire life. It was shown as a visual aid when his father told stories of his life in Germany. When Opa got his own house, he was given the shovel. As the house aged, it slowly caved in on itself. Opa used any scrap materials he could find to support the basement ceiling, including doors, miscellaneous metal, and the shovel.
The shovel hardly passed any borders to get to Opa. It crossed the generational border, getting gifted to him by his father and a slight physical border of moving to a new home. Very few borders had to be crossed to get the shovel so it seemed less significant to him.
Cuttered basement rafters, imagine this density of wood over the whole ceiling for mental image of my Opa's basement ceiling
Father -
My father completely forgot about the existence of the shovel. It was always there, supporting him and the floor beneath, but its existence slipped his memory. Opa never passed the shovel on to him. There was no border crossing in his story with the shovel.
Me: My family would occasionally visit my Opa, flying from Houston to Chicago. On one of these trips, when I was around eight years old, I spotted the shovel in the rafters and asked Opa about it. He told me what he remembered and gave it to me to use as a sand toy on a trip to the beach. Later, when I matured, I looked back on that event with shock and reverence that Opa gave me the shovel to use as a toy. It is the only physical connection I have to my great grandad other than a few photos of him. For me to get the shovel, I had to cross multiple state borders, generational borders, and maturity borders.
Map of the shovel's journey
Context:
Exposure, Physical Borders
The different amount of reverence generations of my family show to the shovel is a sign of a broader social trend: Family heirlooms tend to be more valuable the more borders one must cross to access them. For my family, The order of importance matches how many borders had to be crossed to reach the object, going from my great grandad, me, opa, then my father. Rowsell defines a term: Fractal habitus - how every day exposure to an object can impact its perceived value (Rowsell). Always having an object present can make someone forget its significance to them. Its like the saying, "absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Generational Borders
Grossman finds that objects tied to achievements are more likely to become heirlooms instead of items tied to enjoyment or monetary value (Grossman). Most achievements are a breakthrough of borders, trying something new and going into uncharted territory or sentimental objects passed on by immigrating families. More generational borders that a heirloom passes through can make the object seem more important. Less objects tend to continously pass between the generational borders, so the few that make it through get all the attention.
Works Cited:
Grossman, Daniel M., and Ryan Rahinel. “Achievement‐Based Sentimental Value as a Catalyst for Heirloom Gift‐Giving.” Journal of Consumer Psychology, vol. 32, no. 1, 28 Mar. 2021, pp. 41–56, https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1235. Rowsell, Jennifer. “Carrying My Family with Me: Artifacts as Emic Perspectives.” Qualitative Research, vol. 11, no. 3, June 2011, pp. 331–346. SAGE, https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794111399841.
Sharky, Mark. “US Model 1910, T-Handle Trench Shovel, WW1 Vintage Entrenching Tool.” Blogspot.com, 2015, sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2015/10/us-model-1910-t-handle
-trench-shovel.html.
Artifact 1: WW1 US Entrenching tool
Adam Teske
Created on September 26, 2025
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Transcript
US Entrenching Tool - Tunneling Through Borders
Artifact 1:
By Adam Teske
Great Grandad:While serving in the German army during WW1, my Great Grandad came upon the US shovel. It was similar in performance to the German issued Kleines Schanzzeug shovel. Why he kept it is a mystery lost to history. When the Nazi regime started gaining power, he and my great grandma were lucky enough to make it through the US immigration lottery. They were only allowed minimal luggage, and the shovel was one of the few possessions they took with them on their trip across the sea to Ellis Island, on their train ride to Chicago, and into their future home.All the effort my great grandad put into transporting the shovel from the frontlines to his home in Chicago shows its significance to him. To get the shovel in the first place, he had many borders to pass, country borders, trench lines, and social borders of keeping a US military item as a German soldier.
Ellis Island 1930s
Opa - My Opa grew up with the shovel his entire life. It was shown as a visual aid when his father told stories of his life in Germany. When Opa got his own house, he was given the shovel. As the house aged, it slowly caved in on itself. Opa used any scrap materials he could find to support the basement ceiling, including doors, miscellaneous metal, and the shovel. The shovel hardly passed any borders to get to Opa. It crossed the generational border, getting gifted to him by his father and a slight physical border of moving to a new home. Very few borders had to be crossed to get the shovel so it seemed less significant to him.
Cuttered basement rafters, imagine this density of wood over the whole ceiling for mental image of my Opa's basement ceiling
Father - My father completely forgot about the existence of the shovel. It was always there, supporting him and the floor beneath, but its existence slipped his memory. Opa never passed the shovel on to him. There was no border crossing in his story with the shovel.
Me: My family would occasionally visit my Opa, flying from Houston to Chicago. On one of these trips, when I was around eight years old, I spotted the shovel in the rafters and asked Opa about it. He told me what he remembered and gave it to me to use as a sand toy on a trip to the beach. Later, when I matured, I looked back on that event with shock and reverence that Opa gave me the shovel to use as a toy. It is the only physical connection I have to my great grandad other than a few photos of him. For me to get the shovel, I had to cross multiple state borders, generational borders, and maturity borders.
Map of the shovel's journey
Context:
Exposure, Physical Borders
The different amount of reverence generations of my family show to the shovel is a sign of a broader social trend: Family heirlooms tend to be more valuable the more borders one must cross to access them. For my family, The order of importance matches how many borders had to be crossed to reach the object, going from my great grandad, me, opa, then my father. Rowsell defines a term: Fractal habitus - how every day exposure to an object can impact its perceived value (Rowsell). Always having an object present can make someone forget its significance to them. Its like the saying, "absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Generational Borders
Grossman finds that objects tied to achievements are more likely to become heirlooms instead of items tied to enjoyment or monetary value (Grossman). Most achievements are a breakthrough of borders, trying something new and going into uncharted territory or sentimental objects passed on by immigrating families. More generational borders that a heirloom passes through can make the object seem more important. Less objects tend to continously pass between the generational borders, so the few that make it through get all the attention.
Works Cited: Grossman, Daniel M., and Ryan Rahinel. “Achievement‐Based Sentimental Value as a Catalyst for Heirloom Gift‐Giving.” Journal of Consumer Psychology, vol. 32, no. 1, 28 Mar. 2021, pp. 41–56, https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1235. Rowsell, Jennifer. “Carrying My Family with Me: Artifacts as Emic Perspectives.” Qualitative Research, vol. 11, no. 3, June 2011, pp. 331–346. SAGE, https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794111399841. Sharky, Mark. “US Model 1910, T-Handle Trench Shovel, WW1 Vintage Entrenching Tool.” Blogspot.com, 2015, sharky-fourbees.blogspot.com/2015/10/us-model-1910-t-handle -trench-shovel.html.