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Share your pandemic experiences and be a part of history

Royal BC Museum is asking British Columbians to record their pandemic stories and experiences
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Desert Sands Community School student Michaela Aie of Ashcroft took part in history when she greeted school staff during a parade on April 24. The Royal BC Museum is asking citizens to share their pandemic memories and experiences for future generations. (Photo credit: Heather White-Aie)

We are all living through history every day, but in recent weeks that has become even more apparent, as we adjust to life in a global pandemic that will be written into the history books.

In acknowledgement of this, the Royal BC Museum has launched “COVID-19: Collecting For Our Time”, a project that invites British Columbians to tell the stories of their experiences during the pandemic.

The museum and archives will work alongside communities to gather B.C.’s pandemic stories now, as they occur, and will develop a longer-term collecting project capturing their legacy. The Royal BC Museum wants to hear from the people of B.C.: what should be collected, and how will the province’s communities want to remember this historic time?

“The pandemic and the resulting directives from government and health authorities have changed much of what we experience in our daily lives, from the outdoors, to technology, to even something as simple as grocery shopping,” says Royal BC Museum CEO Prof. Jack Lohman. “By providing their insights, B.C. citizens will have the opportunity to describe how they feel history should be written.”

The “COVID-19: Collecting For Our Time” project reflects the evolving nature of museums as spaces for reflection and commentary about significant social and environmental changes. The project is also a way to share with the public why and how museums collect, and to illustrate the long-term value of a collection. The project is an open invitation for all B.C. citizens to participate in the museum process.

Right now, the Royal BC Museum is preparing to collect perspectives, photos, and objects that will help tell the story of this moment for future generations. In this, the first stage of the project, the museum and archives is collecting information. The museum invites the citizens of B.C. to write to forourtime@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca and describe what they think should be captured about the COVID-19 pandemic for the future.

For more information about the Royal BC Museum’s “COVID-19: Collecting For Our Time” project, including an overview and FAQs, visit www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/tell-us-your-covid-19-story.



editorial@accjournal.ca

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