TAKE PART

A City of Rockville sign on the Montgomery History campus details restrictions on park usage during the COVID-19 crisis.

Montgomery History needs your help documenting this moment in time for future historians! Our COVID-19 Archive will provide a permanent repository, using accounts from residents like you, to ensure posterity understands how these historic events touched our lives in Montgomery County and shaped our thoughts and actions.

YOUR STORY MATTERS! We’re looking for volunteers to submit journals entries, video diaries, photos, or other material that documents day-to-day experiences during this historic crisis. If you are working on the frontlines during the coronavirus outbreak—in the health industry, as a grocery store employee, business owner, nonprofit providing essential services, delivery driver, teacher, scientist, local politician, or otherwise—we would especially love to hear from you, but all voices and perspectives are welcome!

To submit your story to be an important piece of the historic record, please fill out this short Google Form. We want to hear from you! If you have further questions about the project or need helping using the Google Form, please contact Archivist Sarah Hedlund at Archive@MontgomeryHistory.org.

To get you started, a new prompt question will be posted each week to help guide you as you write, photograph, or otherwise document the crisis. Prior questions are listed below if you need additional inspiration. Here’s this week’s question (and don’t forget to check back each week for new ideas!)

Past Questions:

Week of June 15: Have you dined indoors since Phase 2 has begun? Why or why not? What are you most looking forward to under Phase 2? With weather getting hot and summer officially begun, are you feeling fatigue over the restrictions? Do you continue to be as strict with social distancing as you were in March or have you relaxed your own standards? What do you think the “new normal” looks like?

Week of June 8: Have you participated in a local protest? Did your decision hinge on social distancing concerns? What precautions were people taking with regards to social distancing? 

Week of June 1: What did you miss most while under stay-at-home orders? Was there something you expected to miss, but didn’t (or vice versa)? How do you feel about moving into Phase 1 of reopening? Are you nervous or excited?

Week of May 25: What summer traditions will you have to amend or cancel this year? If and when pools open, will you feel safe swimming? What about attending backyard barbecues or dining outdoors? Did you have summer vacation plans that will have to be changed?

Week of May 18: How do you think the class of 2020 will celebrate their graduation? How does it compare to how you celebrated? If you are celebrating with a recent grad, how will you make it special?

Week of May 11: How do you feel about certain outdoor activities being permissible again? Do you think this is a step in the right direction, or do you think it’s too soon? Will you begin doing some of these activities as soon as you can, or are you still wary of going out in public?

Week of May 4: How will you be celebrating Mother’s Day while the stay-at-home order is in place? How will it differ from the way you normally celebrate?

Week of April 27: Lots of people (both children and adults) are staying connected with their communities through public art. Have you seen any artistic creations in your neighborhood, like sidewalk chalk drawings, painted rocks, or window art? What pieces in your neighborhood have been your favorite? Send us your pictures or reflections on quarantine art as this week’s submission! Here are some examples that have been submitted to us already: 

Submitted by Anne Bouchard

Submitted by Anne Bouchard

Submitted by Michelle Kuldell

Submitted by Michelle Kuldell

Week of April 20: Since Monday, April 13, Montgomery County residents have been required to wear masks or other face coverings while visiting grocery stores, pharmacies, and other retail spaces. How did having to wear a mask change your routine? Had you already incorporated a mask into your shopping trips or was it difficult for you to adjust? How did it feel seeing your neighbors walking around wearing masks? How did you make your mask? If you’re a parent, how did you explain the new rule to your child(ren)?

Week of April 13: What local activities do you miss the most? For instance, which parks do you most like to visit in the spring? Which cancelled events–concerts, festivals, lectures, etc.–were you most looking forward to attending?

Additionally, we are looking for physical objects to add to our artifact collection that are relevant to the current crisis. If you have objects you would like to donate, please contact Executive Director Matt Logan at MLogan@MontgomeryHistory.org or Curator Elizabeth Lay at ELay@MontgomeryHistory.org.