Due to current measures to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus Covid-19, Sombra Museum will be temporarily closed to the public and all events are cancelled until further notice. Please check back here or visit our Facebook page for continued updates or further cancellations. updated July 20, 2020
Making Pandemic History
Hello citizens of St. Clair Township and beyond! We at Sombra Museum hope that everyone is physical distancing and staying safe!
Working in a museum, we tend to be concerned about documenting and preserving the past, but right now we are living through an event that is unlike any we have experienced in the last century, if ever before,
so the focus is very much on the present. So often when looking through the archives we get very excited to find the shortest photo caption, post card, note or on rare occasions, a diary recording daily life. Looking for local accounts of the 1919
Spanish Flu pandemic and finding very little from the local perspective, we realized that we need YOU to help us to record and preserve memories of this time for future generations. What was going on day-to-day in Sombra? Wilkesport? Port Lambton?
Mooretown? Ontario? Canada? Across the world?
Please share this with as many people as possible. We encourage you all to document this time, if not to share publicly, then for yourself and your family to look back and reflect on in years to come
Here's what information we hope you will share:
*Shopping conditions and how they changed over time
*Adapting to working at home and any challenges or creative solutions needed
*Financial challenges
*Feelings caused by the outbreak and thoughts about social distancing
*Keeping children occupied during self-isolation
*Keeping adults occupied during self-isolation
*What new or newly rediscovered hobbies or crafts were taken up
*Stories from the front lines – essential services
*Struggles of family members or friends infected with the virus
*Stories of everyday heroes, i.e. people helping neighbours during self-isolation or people accepting inconveniences for the greater good
*How daily life and routines have changed
*For those who lived through the Great Depression, World War II, etc., are there similarities to those experiences?
*How social media and technology is impacting life in social isolation (using technology for the first time, using it differently)
Photos, videos, drawings, collages, anecdotes, a few jotted thoughts, exerts from a pandemic diary - we want it all! Anything you feel comfortable sharing (no explicit material, of course :) )
This could make a fun school activity or family project while you are at home.
Submissions can be sent by email to [email protected] with the subject line "COVID-19 History Snapshot"
Events
Do you have a research request or query? Please send us a message via Facebook (click the link below) or at [email protected]
If you prefer, give us a call at 519-892-3982
Staff are now onsite, physical distancing and following appropriate public health guidelines, to address your research needs and questions and prepare for eventual opening.
Check out the Calendar or Facebook for more details and for additional events
