With quarantines and self-distancing temporarily being a large part of Montanans’ lives, historians and archivists around the state and in Missoula County invite residents to share their personal experiences with future generations.
“There are many gaps and blanks in our local history. One reason for our skimpy history is because people of the past thought their tribulations, or ordinary life, was not worthy of recording for future generations,” wrote the Seeley Lake Historical Society in a press release. “Generations later would dearly love to know more about those who came before us. Now is a chance to tell first hand so future historians won’t have to guess what is happening now.”
There are two opportunities to share stories and experiences, the first through the Montana Historical Society (MHS) and the second through the “Documenting COVID-19 in Missoula County: A Community Archive Project.” The MHS has also created the “Coronavirus Quarantine Challenge” as a riff off a Getty Museum effort asking patrons to re-create works of art in their collection.
The MHS wants to know how both current and former Montanans are impacted. There are two surveys, one for students and one for the general public. The surveys include about a dozen questions, including what precautions are being taken, how COVID-19 is affecting jobs and what’s the atmosphere in their communities. The survey includes a link to upload photos, artwork, poems, videos or other media that will inform future generations about the COVID-19 experience.
“Judging from the materials collected during previous times of national crises, we can’t stress enough the importance of recording history as it’s being made,” said MHS Director Bruce Whittenberg. “The more people who fill out the survey will help future generations fully understand the stories of the people and places of Montana during this worldwide pandemic.”
“Documenting COVID-19 in Missoula County” includes historians and archivists from Missoula County, the City of Missoula, the University of Montana, the downtown Missoula Partnership’s “Heritage Missoula” Program and private Missoula businesses. The project seeks to engage local community members, online communities, businesses and nonprofits, both urban and rural, to document their actions and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Information from the City of Missoula and Missoula County are already being collected for the project. With the additional input from residents, the project hopes to capture the overall impact of COVID-19 on Missoula County from both a public and a private perspective.
Archives and Special Collections at UM’s Mansfield Library will archive the collected materials and make them available to public officials, scholars and the public after the project wraps up.
Upper Swan Valley Historical Society board member Sharon Gressle said the benefit of the project is two-fold. First, people sharing their real-time experiences will prevent the information from being colored by the passage of time and subject to revisionist history. Second, the project is inclusive of the rural experience, something she added is clearly different in many ways than large population centers in the state.
“We are hopeful that the residents of areas of the community outside Missoula will be willing to contribute their perspectives on how the COVID-19 has impacted them, from access to medical care to reaching out to neighbors to provide support,” wrote Gressle in an email.
To take the MHS survey visit https://mhs.mt.gov/about/QuarantineActivities. To submit written materials, photographs, audio and visual files, and other documents reflecting experiences in Missoula County for the “Documenting COVID-19 in Missoula County: A Community Archive Project” visit https://www.lib.umt.edu/asc/covid-project/.
Gressle said the USVHS can gather the information directly or assist in submitting to the project website. She can be contacted directly by calling 754-0243 or via email ssgressle@hotmail.com.
The MHS is also offering a “Coronavirus Quarantine Challenge” on their Facebook page. They posted 24 photos of art from its collections and are asking people to re-create them using family members who are self-quarantining together or common household items. The Montana Historical Society is then asking people to post photos of their re-creation or email them to eve.byron@mt.gov.
“We thought it would be a fun diversion for individuals and families who are spending a lot of time at home these days,” said Kirby Lambert, the MHS Outreach and Interpretation Program manager. “The results we’ve received so far are pretty creative.”
He added that if enough people participate, the re-creations could become their own exhibit in the future.
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