Have you ever watched Legacy List, hosted by Matt Paxton? It is our second-favorite family history TV program (after Finding Your Roots) and takes a different approach.
Instead of interviewing a celebrity and then researching their ancestry, Legacy List finds ordinary people who want to downsize or clean out an estate - but preserve a few heirlooms and artifacts that may have special meaning to the family, or may even be historically significant.
In some cases, the Legacy List crew finds treasures - including the print by Salvador Dali shown above. Here's the full video:
This episode followed the cleanup of the 1720 home and studio of the late modern artist David Hayes in Coventry, Connecticut, at the request of his children. Hayes, who passed away in 2013, was one of the most prolific artists we have ever seen or heard of, working in multiple media and creating thousands of metal sculptures, drawings, paintings, ceramics, and pieces of furniture.
What pieces should be put into storage, and what might stay on the grounds of the property as part of a museum dedicated to his life? In addition to learning about the Hayes' life and art, we also earned about the 1720 house he and his wife raised 4 children in. The discovery of a secret room indicated that the building may have been a stop on the Underground Railroad!
As the former host of Hoarders, Paxton and his crew have a lot of experience working with cluttered attics and people who don't know where to start with a major move. And, while Hoarders highlighted extreme cases of people who couldn't throw anything away, Legacy List is really about people who are dealing with complicated emotions associated with downsizing or working through the belongings of a loved one who has passed.
