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LOCAL

Library seeks items, stories to document time of pandemic

Tim Hrenchir
threnchir@cjonline.com
Donna Rae Pearson, local history librarian for the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, is asking for help documenting the thoughts, actions and events residents of this community have experienced during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

History is happening right now, says Donna Rae Pearson.

She’s asking residents of this community to help document that history for future generations.

The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library is creating an exhibit that will chronicle the thoughts, actions and events experienced by residents of Topeka and Shawnee County during the current COVID-19 pandemic, said Pearson, the library’s local history librarian.

That exhibit will be titled “A Moment in Time: The Local Responses to a Global Crisis,” she said.

The display is to be available for public view from Oct. 9 to Nov. 29, though that could change, Pearson said.

She noted that Topeka was among cities ravaged in 1918 by a worldwide pandemic of what was known as the “Spanish flu.” That disease killed 10 Topekans in one day in October 1918, according to the Topeka Daily Capital.

Written accounts of how the Topeka community handled the 1918 pandemic are “scant,” Pearson said.

She said “A Moment in Time” will seek to avoid that with the current pandemic by collecting physical objects and writings sharing the human experience of people living here during the time of COVID-19. Those items will be held in repository for future generations to research and learn from.

The library is asking people to provide written personal reflections about the past six months, Pearson said.

“There is no length requirement or age restriction,” she said. “It could be as simple as a few words or pages long. It might be poetry essays or selected social media posts. If residents want questions to respond to, we have a form they can complete.”

The library hopes to gather a cross-section of written perspectives, Pearson said.

She added that people attending the exhibit will be able to write down personal reflections about this time period and what they think the future might bring. All residents who choose to write something may opt to not be identified, Pearson said.

In addition, she said, the library is encouraging residents to donate or loan items that reflect the times in which we live. Pearson said such items might include a mask; a protest sign from one of the demonstrations held locally; or images and text related to social media.

“We are looking for everyday objects that tell the story of this time in the city and county’s history, whatever perspective they may have,” Pearson said. “We are also encouraging organizations and businesses to share the impact of this global crisis.”

The deadline for submitting items is Sept. 10, Pearson said.

She said people may donate or loan writings or other items:

• In person at the library, 1515 S.W. 10th Ave., by contacting staff members of its gallery or Topeka Room.

• By making online submissions using a form that will become available soon on the library’s website at www.tscpl.org.

• By emailing Pearson at dpearson@tscpl.org.

“A Moment in Time” will be the first public display in a new initiative by the library to document history as it happens, Pearson said.

“This initiative, Future Memories Project, encourages the local community to donate items to the local history archive for Topeka and Shawnee County to preserve for future generations now,” she said.

Traditionally, Pearson said, historians and historical archivists have waited several years before they started collecting vital documents that tell the history of people, places and events.

The Future Memories project is aimed at helping ensure the preservation of items that may not survive those years, she said.

The items donated for “A Moment in Time” will be placed in the library’s local history archives and will be available for viewing during normal library hours, Pearson said.

Some items, such as digital media, will be housed in an online repository available 24 hours a day on the library’s website, she said.

Pearson said all items submitted will be considered for addition to the library’s permanent local history archives, which the library initiated in the 1970s in an effort to document the people, places and events of this region.

“If you have a treasured item you do not wish to be added to the local history collection, (the library) will consider it a loan for the exhibit and will return it at its conclusion,” Pearson said.

The library can make copies of digital and 2D materials, she added.