Category Archives: Museums and Historical Societies

Quarantined in the Time of Corona: Oneida County Experiences during COVID-19

The Oneida County History Center is inviting the public to submit their COVID-19 stories.  These narratives will become part of the History Center’s collections and will be available for future researchers to learn how the community was impacted by this global pandemic. Complete the form below to share your experience during this unprecedented time. Want to submit your story vial mail? Download the form at the bottom of the page, print, and send your submission to:

Oneida County History Center
Attn: Lauren Robinson
1608 Genesee Street

What do we want to know? Please use the questions below to get you started.

  • ​What’s a typical day like during quarantine?
  • How do you fill your time in quarantine?
  • How do you stay connected during this period of social distancing?
  • Has social distancing and quarantine changed your opinion of social media at all? How?
  • Have you noticed changes in your community since the outbreak?
  • What has surprised you most?
  • Do you have any tips to make this time more enjoyable?
  • When the crisis is over, what do you hope for yourself, your community, your country, or the world?
  • Is there anything else you would like to add that hasn’t already been asked above?​

Visuals are welcome! Please label images with location and date. Upload and submit with the form below or email to lrobinson@oneidacountyhistory.org. Please use the subject line ‘My COVID story, your name’.

COVID-19 Archive Project (Schenectady County, New York)

The Schenectady County Historical Society is calling on community members to help document local experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

It’s an emergency of historic proportions, and has been compared to the Black Plague, or the 1918 Spanish Flu. Like those past crises, COVID-19 will be a major topic of study for future historians. Years from now, Schenectadians will look back and wonder, “how did the COVID-19 pandemic affect Schenectady County? How did our ancestors respond to the crisis?” “What was life like for people quarantined, for months?”

You can help future researchers understand for themselves what life right now is like. You can help future historians understand the pandemic’s immense impact on our community, and on ourselves, and on our way of life. You can help future historians understand how this international emergency changed your life, and changed our world, forever.

Consider recording your unique perspective for inclusion in the SCHS archives. Diaries, scrapbooks, photo albums, letters, songs, poems, short stories, and other works of art are all important sources for future historians. Be creative: there are infinite ways you can express yourself, and document the impact of COVID-19 on you, your loved ones, and your neighbors. Help us, by:

The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact is an on-going, changing situation. It will take time to document how we are all affected. If you have questions about ways you can contribute to the SCHS archive collection, or about documenting your experiences, contact the SCHS librarian, Marietta Carr, at librarian@schenectadyhistorical.org

The Coronavirus Pandemic — Share Your Story for the Future

The Montgomery Village Museum in Montgomery, New York, is collecting the stories of local residents about living through the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Today we are living in one of the most defining moments of our lifetime.  The national headlines, cable networks, and social media channels will effectively chronicle the stories and headlines of the day.  However 10, 20 or even 50 years from now, the questions from future generations will become more personal. They will wonder and ask: What was it like for you? How did the community respond? What impact did it have on the village, businesses, schools, churches, family, friends and daily life?

How are you documenting your experience during the COVID-19 pandemic? Many village residents are keeping diaries, journals, taking photos etc. Documenting your personal story or even making a few notes each week during this period, can be a wonderful “Stay at Home” activity. Later these documents can be donated, archived, and shared to tell our village story. 

Right now, you can also contribute to our history by completing a survey, developed by the Association of Public Historians of New York State. The survey will be used to collect stories from throughout New York State. The form is set up so submissions directly feed into a special Google email folder that was set up for this project. Once the crisis and the collecting period have ended, the APHNYS will share the responses with each local historian.

If you would like to participate in the survey, please click on the link below.

VILLAGEOFMONTGOMERY.ORG/COVID-19ARCHIVES

You can respond once or multiple times as you have new information to share.

I optimistically look forward to the day when we open our museum doors and begin the healing process of collecting your heartfelt personal stories of sacrifice, commitment, and devotion to community that inspired all of us all through this challenging time.

Keep Everyone Healthy. Please Stay at Home.
Brian Fitzpatrick, Village Historian
historian@villageofmontgomery.org

Community Survey on COVID-19 Crisis

The History Center in Tompkins County and the Cornell University Archives are collaborating in an ongoing archival collections project related to the impacts of COVID-19. To this end, we have created a survey to field responses from the Tompkins County and Cornell community on how people have been experiencing and reflecting on the COVID-19 crisis. While many of us are still processing the events unfolding, we would like to ask those who are willing to share to please take a few moments to fill out our coronavirus survey.
 
When answering these questions or talking about these subjects, consider them in the context of your personal life, family, daily activities, and community. Your responses will be compiled into an archival collection documenting the responses to the COVID-19 outbreak at Cornell and the local repercussions of the disease in Tompkins County. Documenting how the community has grappled with the challenges of this crisis will help scholars, future researchers, and our descendants understand what this tumultuous time was like.
 
For more information about this project, contact the archivist at The History Center in Tompkins County, Donna Eschenbrenner, archives@thehistorycenter.net or the Cornell University Archivist, Evan Earle, efe4@cornell.edu. To learn more about The History Center’s mission, visit their website at https://thehistorycenter.net/.

OneWorld COVID-19 Special Collection

The Museum of Chinese in America has established the OneWorld Collection to feature acquisitions of a wide range of artifacts, including but not limited to photographs, letters, articles, journals, messages, notes, certificates, medical records, videos, and oral histories of Chinese Americans during this time. This collection will not only feature stories of community efforts but also highlight experiences of individuals and families during these unprecedented times.

They invite Chinese Americans to send a write up and photos to oneworld@mocanyc.org, with the subject line Submission for MOCA OneWorld COVID-19 Special Collection. Explain how you, your association, or your community group organized to help the current crisis. Share a story that is one you believe should be recorded and documented. Please provide your contact information or that of your organization’s or community’s, including full name, email address, phone number, and mailing address.

coronarchiv

coronarchiv is a joint public history project of the Universities of Hamburg, Bochum and Gießen in cooperation with the Medical History Museum Hamburg and the Museum for Hamburg History.

The aim of the coronarchiv is the continuous collection, archiving, contextualization and long-term provision of personal memories and found objects related to the corona crisis. In principle, this can be anything that is available digitally or can be digitized: from texts such as diaries, letters, e-mails, poems, articles in newspapers and magazines, shopping lists, job reports, notices, warnings, regulations on photos, drawings, pictures, Videos, notices, chats and social media posts up to voice messages, songs and readings. Submissions are being accepted through May 15, 2020.

Covid-19 Project (Brooklyn Historical Society)

Brooklyn Historical Society is actively collecting material related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which is impacting daily life on an unprecedented scale. Their goal is to document and preserve the collective experiences of our community during the crisis, including the health, economic, social, political, and religious impacts of COVID-19 on our borough. 

They invite and encourage the public to share your thoughts, stories, and the material you have collected or created related to COVID-19 in Brooklyn.

CONTRIBUTING DIGITAL CONTENT

If you are interested in sharing digital content such as photographs, videos, and audio clips, please use our online submission form here. Digital content may be shared through our online collections platforms and social media accounts.

CONTRIBUTING PHYSICAL ITEMS

BHS is very interested in collecting physical items in the future. Due to BHS’s temporary closure, it cannot accept physical materials at this time. When it re-opens to the public, BHS will provide information about how to drop-off or mail your items.

Suggested materials, physical or digital, include:

  • Artifacts
  • Artistic reflections (e.g. rainbow artwork)
  • Business and restaurant signage about closures, fundraising initiatives, social distancing measures, and amended menus
  • Government issued posters, reports, and decrees concerning public health and safety
  • Grocery store lists and receipts
  • Housing-related material, such as rent abatements, strikes and eviction notices
  • Local and mutual aid organizations’ flyers, newsletters, mass mailings, records, and reports
  • Lesson plans and other educational material related to remote learning and homeschooling
  • Personal correspondence and journals
  • Photographs of closed businesses, hospitals and temporary medical facilities, social distancing, homeschooling, and religious activity
  • Video and audio diaries, journal entries, and reflections

Submitted materials will be reviewed by Collections staff, and may be added to our permanent collections. Items may be shared on social media. Material mailed to BHS without prior communication with BHS staff cannot be added to our collections or returned to sender. If you have questions about this collecting initiative, or BHS’s terms and conditions, please reach out to library@brooklynhistory.org.

Rhode Island Covid-19 Archive

A Community Collecting Initiative hosted by the Rhode Island Historical Society and Providence Public Library, Rhode Island Covid-19 Archive (ricovidarchive.org/) invites Rhode Islanders to contribute stories, images, and recordings that reflect their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. The site includes a guide to personal archiving.