Museums Across The World Are Collecting Coronavirus Artifacts To Record The Pandemic

by Sanjana Shenoy
Museums Across The World Are Collecting Coronavirus Artifacts To Record The Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has affected the world on an epic scale. Needless to say, this is a major event in the history of mankind. Museums across the world like Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian are working on a project to keep a record of this pandemic. Artifacts related to coronavirus are being collected as official records for this unfortunate world event. Museums are documenting the pandemic with self-made masks, pandemic diaries, photographs as a way to preserve this period in history for generations to come.

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Protective Gear, Tests Kits Are Collected By Museum Curators

Curators across the world are collecting rather interesting things. This includes personal protective gear, test kits, letters from patients, ventilators and even grocery lists. These items are after all the highlights of this trying time in history. Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian has also launched a new initiative called Moments of Resilience storytelling.  Smithsonian curators are soliciting oral histories and digital items for this online collection. In a bid to not let the human impact of this pandemic to get lost, people in Washington are being urged to submit digital photographs, videos and written accounts to the museum’s new “Moments of Resilience” online collection.

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The National Museum of American History and the Anacostia Community Museum are also working towards collecting such artefacts. However, they’re careful not to put pressure on supplies. These museums are waiting for the pandemic to come to an end, in order to collect all the important supplies. So in the future, you can take your children to a museum and show them that you’ve lived through a deadly global pandemic.

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Also Read: UN Warns That 13% Of Museums In The World May Never Reopen Due To COVID-19 Crisis

Museums Urge People To Send Them Corona Related Things For Preservation

Apart from Smithsonian, the Wien Museum of Vienna has also started a project known as the Corona Collection Project. This aims to collect, record and preserve all objects related to the pandemic. Till date, this project has received more than 2000 photographs. On the other hand, London’s V&A Museum has commenced a project called Pandemic Objects. This lays emphasis on Google Street View, home-made signs, and streaming services. Here are 10 Weird Museums Around The World To Visit Once In Your Life

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Museums and universities across Germany are urging people not to throw away objects that shape their current lives. People are asked to take photos of them or mail them to the museums. An attempt is being made by museums to capture everyday life in the spring of 2020 for collective memory. Historian Rita Wagner, working at Germany’s Cologne City Museum aims to collect as many objects as possible to give future generation a glimpse of how this pandemic affected people.

First Published: May 26, 2020 6:38 PM