The Monadnock Center for History and Culture is calling on the community for materials to document the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the Monadnock Region. Materials collected during this historic time will be preserved in the Monadnock Center’s archives for future generations.
“Local historians in 25, 50 or 100 years will look back on this historic moment and want to have materials that shed light on how this crisis impacted our community,” said the Monadnock Center’s Executive Director, Michelle Stahl, “The materials we collect now will allow them to hear our voices, to see the pandemic’s impact, and to learn the ways we persevered through this unprecedented event.”
The Monadnock Center asks people to send photographs, writings, and other materials for the collection by email to director@MonadnockCenter.org or by mail to the Monadnock Center, P.O. Box 58, Peterborough. Please do not bring materials to the Monadnock Center which will remain closed to the public until the stay at home order is lifted.
The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript has partnered with the Monadnock Center and will submit news articles and photographs for the collection from its extensive coverage of the crisis.
When Rob Crowley of Savron Graphics in Jaffrey learned about the project to document the COVID crisis, he contacted the Monadnock Center with an idea to print journals for people to record their experiences. Once the crisis is over, journals may be turned in and Savron graphics will digitize them. Digital copies will be made available to all of the local historical societies to be preserved for the future.
These COVID-19 journals are free and have been distributed throughout the Contoocook Valley. Pick up a journal at the following locations: Savron Graphics in Jaffrey (32 Fitzgerald Drive, box located by outside office door), Peterborough Town Library (under the overhang adjacent to the rear entrance), Hancock Inn (on the porch), Delay’s Harvester Market in Greenfield (on the porch), and Dublin General Store (inside store, only available during store hours).
Additional details about the COVID-19 documentation project can be found on the center’s website at MonadnockCenter.org.