The Litchfield Historical Society needs your help. Recognizing that this is a unique moment in history, we would like to document the effect of the Coronavirus on our community. For many years, researchers have visited us to learn about the Revolutionary War, the Litchfield Law School and other significant events, people and places in Litchfield’s history. We are interested in collecting resources that will tell future historians and children of Litchfield what it was like to live through a global pandemic. To that end, we ask you to consider sharing:
- Diaries and Journals documenting your thoughts and feelings about what is happening
- Artwork, music, poetry, and other creative outlets that help you cope with the present crisis
- Ways you have found to remain connected to people and community while being physically removed from them
- Photographs of empty streets and signs on doors related to closures
Most of us have used primary sources. This is your opportunity to contribute one. You can share comments and images with us through our online form below.
We’re also interested in collecting physical artifacts that may one day be part of exhibits, programs, websites, history day projects, etc. Staff will select materials that demonstrate the impact of coronavirus and COVID-19 on our town. These might include items that represent the medical and economic impact of the virus on our region, such as modified take out menus, business signage, home lesson plans, grocery lists, and other objects. To offer physical objects please contact our curator (for artifact donations like artwork) or our archivist (for photographs, diaries etc.) and discuss whether your documentation would be a good fit for our collection, and keep in mind that we won’t be able to take possession of them until the crisis has ended.
We would also like to ask for your help with our first foray into the world of Web archiving. Staff time and digital storage constraints have prevented us from attempting this before, but so much of the response to the pandemic is online that we must do what we can to preserve it. The first step is to determine what sites and resources should be crawled. We have started a Google doc with a list of potential sites and hope you will help us add to it. Think of businesses, non-profits, and community groups. They must be specific to Litchfield including Bantam, Milton, and Northfield.