An expert on your shoulder.

I bought the Ford Collection in 2022 as one group of maps, photographs, orders and records connected to No. 1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station. I wanted to keep that history together and make it available to others.

I explored placing the collection with institutions. I contacted the Canadian War Museum and Library and Archives Canada. I also approached Queens County Museum, the Army Museum at the Halifax Citadel and Nova Scotia Archives. Queens County Museum and Nova Scotia Archives ultimately declined. The Army Museum expressed interest in a donation and suggested that Nova Scotia Archives consider it first.

Even when people recognize a collection’s importance, finding a home for the whole thing can be complicated. If individual objects eventually go to different owners, their shared story should not disappear.

That is part of why I’m building JARVIS. I’m using the Ford Collection to develop a way to keep photographs, descriptions, sources and connections between objects together. From that record, I can share the history through a book and public information while identifying individual items accurately.

I want other collectors, families, dealers and institutions to have that choice too: share what they’ve found, rather than tuck it away, and preserve its story even when the objects move on.

Read how JARVIS helps me work through years of collecting and a foreign-language book library →

Imagine spotting an old book with an unfamiliar mark. You show its cover and title page to JARVIS on your phone and ask a question. The experience I’m building is a short, useful conversation: which details matter, what the images support, and what still needs research. The same evidence can follow the book into your inventory and, if you choose to sell, into a listing you review before publication.

Camera-equipped smart glasses are a possible optional add-on for hands-free questions and private spoken guidance. That glasses interaction is a concept in development, not a currently available JARVIS feature. A phone remains the core way to use JARVIS.