Thomas Clarkson
The project was inspired by the anti-slavery campaigner - Thomas Clarkson, who did exactly as described above.
Thomas Clarkson's Box
He carried around a box of items (ranging from African produce to diagrams of transportation ships) to illustrate his arguments during his campaign.

About museumbox...
If you could put a number of items into a box that described your life, what would you include? What do you think would be included if you were a Victorian Servant or Queen Elizabeth I. If you lived during the English Civil War, what items would you include to make a case for, or against, the parliamentarians? And what if you were an abolitionist and wanted to show that slavery was wrong and unnecessary, how would you create your evidence. 
So what does museumbox do?

Museum box provides the tools for you to do just this. It allows you to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical period by placing items in a virtual box. You can display anything from a text file to a movie. You can also view the museum boxes submitted by other people and comment on the contents.