Canadian museum looking for COVID-19 artifacts, stories

Kingston, Ont.’s Museum of Heath Care is looking for the stories and physical objects that have made up the COVID-19 pandemic for Canadians so far.

“We’re looking for any medical representation in artifacts as well as personal narratives of the COVID-19 pandemic. Something like PPE, vaccine vials, any test kits or . . . print media—things like that—as well as personal stories,” Savannah Sewell, the project’s lead and research fellow told Global News.

It’s hard to know exactly what will help history make sense of something we’re going through in real time, said museum manager and program director Kevin Moorhouse.

“The idea is that we can collect a wide variety of sources and stories from people who interact with those sources to have a good knowledge base for future historians to learn from these things. Because again we’re not collecting for now, we’re collecting for people who will tell this story maybe in a hundred years.”

The museum has already collected many artifacts relevant to the pandemic, and now it’s really the personal narratives it wants to solidify for posterity.

“Because we have been pushing the collectiion —so no story is too small— whether it is a positive one, a negative one. Something that you feel you want to share with us.

Those interested in participating in the museum project can email the [email protected] or call 613-548-2419