Research Ideas

What research can I do to improve my essay? I came up with ideas like researching about the history of thrifts stores, facts about the art institute and the artist himself. There were two ideas, however, that I felt would be best to improve my essay: incorporate my own experiences and researching other lost traditions in America. I have been to thrift stores many times. I really enjoy looking at the old items that have been preserved but I have always found myself asking why some items, such as old photos and wedding gowns, are in a thrift store. Why would people want to give these things away? Shouldn’t they be more precious to the families that they belong to? It was interesting to go through the different photos especially, because looking at those old photos was like going back in time and exploring what was really occurring during the time. The photos revealed what it was really like versus the history books from school that we use all the time that may sugar coat it. Those old photos are timeless.
Also, I found it would be extremely useful to compare the lost language the artist was describing, which is photography, with other lost traditions. The best example of a slowly dying out tradition is the newspaper. Newspapers, back in the day, were extremely popular and everyone always read one to find out what was going on in the world and locally at the time. But now, most people do not bother to get a newspaper because they can easily access the news through the Internet. It might be interesting to talk about the lost use of a landline telephones, computers and VCRs, too.