You may remember that I started this month with a resolution to reclaim my office from the vestiges of the holiday season. In preparation for both the cleanup and a newsletter article, I took a photo of my messy room and fed it into Google Gemini, asking for suggestions.

One of the more interesting things it pointed out was a “beautiful wooden” cigar box sitting on my side table.

I’ve had that box forever.

Its non-holiday home is a small table by the front door, where it holds a few dollars for random tips, my husband’s hand warmers, and our neighbor’s extra keys. Useful, unobtrusive, and largely invisible to me.

Some Backstory

In the 2010s, I volunteered at a thrift shop in Jersey City, New Jersey. Hudson County is a wonderful mishmash of cultures and nationalities, including one of the largest U.S.-based Cuban populations outside of Miami.

I remember buying the box there because it reminded me of similar cigar boxes my grandfather had. And really—who doesn’t need a good wooden box?

So I brought it home, and for years it quietly held random collections without much thought.

But Gemini had other ideas.

When AI Encourages You to Look Again

I’d never used AI to research a physical object before. Documents, spreadsheets, reports—sure. But an everyday object?

Why not?

I took photos of the top, front, and side of the cigar box and asked ChatGPT to tell me about it.

Admittedly, I didn’t design a perfect prompt. I didn’t give background context or ask specific questions. I simply wanted to see what ChatGPT would notice and how it would reason through what it could see.

What I got back wasn’t an appraisal or a guess at value—but something much more useful for a genealogist: context.

The language on the box, the “Made in Tampa” markings, the construction style, and the marketing phrases all pointed to a specific time period, place, and industry. Suddenly, the box wasn’t just a container—it was evidence.

That experience got me thinking: this is exactly how genealogists should be using AI with physical objects.
I’d never used AI to research a physical object before, but why not? I took picture of the top, side, and front of the box and asked Gemini to tell me about it. Admittedly, I could have designed a better prompt, but I was curious as to what Gemini would highlight.

Tips for Researching Objects with ChatGPT

1. Take clear, detailed photos
Photograph all sides of the object. Include close-ups of labels, stamps, seals, hinges, joints, or logos. Good lighting matters more than artistic composition.

2. Ask focused questions
Instead of “What is this?”, try:

• What can the wording or labels tell us about date or place?
• What does the construction style suggest?
• Who would have made or used this?
• What industry does it connect to?

3. Avoid assumptions
Let the object speak first. Don’t lead with guesses about dates or origins. Absence of modern features or warnings can be just as informative as what’s present.

4. Ask for context, not value
AI is best at explaining why something exists, not how much it’s worth. Ask about historical background, labor, trade, or immigration rather than price.

5. Use AI to generate research leads
AI can suggest record types, occupations, geographic areas, and search terms you might explore next in traditional records.

As for my cigar box, I learned that it was from a premier cigar manufacturer, constructed in the 1950’s, during the “golden age” of Tampa’s cigar industry. It held a specific kind of cigar, formulated more for British tastes and rolled by hand. From there I could investigate the industry, the workers, geopolitical climate – the possibilities were endless!