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Royal BC Museum asks for pandemic stories, photos for COVID-19 exhibit

Museum collection to share story of pandemic for future generations
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The Royal BC Museum is asking British Columbians to share photos, tweets or stories of their experiences during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as part of a new project called COVID-19 Collecting For Our Time. (Nina Grossman/News Staff)

The Royal BC Museum is asking for the public’s help documenting the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The museum’s new project, titled COVID-19 Collecting For Our Time, invites British Columbians to share their pandemic experiences as they occur, to be gathered alongside a longer-term project capturing the legacy of an unprecedented moment in modern history.

The museum is preparing to collect photos, objects and perspectives “that will help tell the story of this moment for future generations.”

READ ALSO: Royal BC Museum closes due to COVID-19 situation

“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,” said Royal BC Museum CEO Jack Lohman. “By providing their insights, B.C. citizens will have the opportunity to describe how they feel history should be written.”

The Royal BC Museum says the project can help people become part of the collection process, illustrating the way museum spaces reflect and comment significant moments in time.

Residents who want to be involved can email forourtime@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca and describe what they think should be captured for future generations.

Submissions are welcome in the form of a few lines, a link to a tweet, a photo or poem but objects cannot, at this time, be accepted, as most of the museum’s employees are working from home.

The Royal BC Museum closed its doors to visitors on March 17 but is still hosting a number of regular virtual programs and tours, available online at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca.

READ ALSO: Repatriation efforts work to heal and connect through history: Royal BC Museum

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