Marquette County Stories of the Pandemic: Share Your Story

Northern Michigan University, the Peter White Public Library, and the Marquette Regional History Center are working together to document personal experiences during the COVID-19 crisis. How has COVID-19 affected your daily life? Please share your stories, artwork, and music with us so that we can preserve these for future generations. The Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center will be specifically collecting three-dimensional artifacts (material culture) related to the COVID-19 crisis.

More information will be coming soon on how to submit materials, as well as a submission agreement, but in the meantime, below are the types of materials and topics we are looking to collect. We will be collecting physical materials when it is safe to do so.

Formats/Artifacts

  • Diary (summary of daily activities) or journal (reflection on events)
  • Voice or video recordings
  • Oral histories
  • Social media posts
  • Photos
  • Poetry or short stories
  • Digital art or photos of physical art
  • Crafts or photos of crafts
  • Scrapbooks
  • Music
  • Medical equipment (once no longer needed)
  • Ephemera from cancelled events (graduation gown, sports uniforms, costumes from cancelled
  • plays, etc.)
  • Communication equipment (webcams, cell phones, etc.)
  • Window displays or photos of window displays (hearts seen around town)
  • Furniture/equipment (home office, recreational equipment, etc.)

Topics

  • The shift to distance learning
  • Displacement from campus
  • Working from home remotely
  • Passing the time
  • Staying in touch with friends and family
  • Local group activities
  • Front-line worker stories (grocery, banker, law enforcement, and healthcare workers)
  • PPE creation by local institutions and people
  • Social distancing
  • Self-quarantine
  • Changes in leisure activities, celebrations, religious events

If you are interested in making a donation to the U.P. Heritage Center, please contact Daniel Truckey, curator, by calling 906-227-1219 or by e-mailing heritage@nmu.edu.  It is highly suggested that donors contact the curator by phone, mail or e-mail before dropping off any items at the center’s main office.

The Beaumier Upper Peninsula Heritage Center accepts and welcomes donations of all three-dimensional artifacts that would fall under one of the three collection categories listed on the Beaumier Center Collections page.  The center will accept potential donations on a temporary basis, and they will be reviewd for final acceptance into the collection.  If a donation is accepted into the collection, the donor will be sent a formal Deed of Gift form to sign and return to the center.  If a donation is not accepted, the items will be returned to the donor or disposed of at the center’s discretion, depending on the original intentions of the donor.  The curator will give the final approval or refusal for all donations to the center.

Review the center’s full collection policy.