What have you been up to during isolation? Eaten lots of junk food? Binged on too much Tiger King? Spent a good amount of time crying because of the stress of it all? Well, The State Library of Victoria doesn’t care what you’ve been up to, but they do want you to submit your musings for their Memory Bank.
This is an odd point in history. Sure, we’ve got lots of accounts from the days of plagues past, but with this global pandemic taking place in such a modern society, The State Library of Victoria wants to go ahead and create an archive of memories from this moment in history through their Memory Bank.
According to their website, they’re calling on all Victorians to join them in an inaugural archive called the Memory bank that will take in stories of what everyday life is like in Victoria, specifying that they want to take records of what it’s “actually like now, during this time of collective isolation,” not just collect data of experts boring us with their thoughts.
“Daily life is different for each of us during this period of restrictions and physical isolation, and we’re intensely curious about what this moment looks like for you,” the library has asked.
Each week, the library will be sharing prompts to get you started, where they’ll collect comments from any and all Victoria residers who are willing to comment. “Our first prompt is: What’s in your fridge or pantry today?,” the library announced. “You could take an inventory, tell us how many you have of a particular item, or send us your shopping list or weekly menu – we’d love to know!”
“Your contributions of the mundane, the ephemeral and the magical will cement this moment and bring it to life for those who come after us.”
If you’re keen to contribute your thoughts of living through this time of a global pandemic, sharing is easy as. All you’ve got to do is head over to The State Library of Victoria’s Memory Bank website, and you can either email, or post about your experience for others to see, and for historians to archive.
Check out Carolyn Fraser, Senior Curator at The State Library of Victoria, comment on the Memory Bank:
