COVID-19 is making history across Waterbury and the State of Connecticut, as well as across the country. As the historical society for the greater Waterbury region the Mattatuck Museum is collecting and documenting how COVID-19 has affected our local community. Greater Waterbury residents and businesses have created objects to keep themselves and the public healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, distilleries around the state have begun producing hand sanitizer and many private residents have been producing facemasks to donate to medical professionals, friends and family. By preserving local responses and the impact on Waterbury and surrounding residents, the Mattatuck Museum will be helping future researchers understand the local impact of these trying times.
To complement newspaper articles, local government press releases, and other traditional archival material that we will be collecting, the Mattatuck Museum is also looking to document people’s everyday lives and how COVID-19 has affected them.
Your voice and your experience matter to us.
Please consider contributing to our collection!
What we are looking for:
Written narratives about your and/or your family’s experiences during COVID-19.
Photographs of you and/or your family during isolation
Photographs of artwork about COVID-19, or artwork created during COVID-19.
Short videos can also be included.
Physical objects can also be donated when it is safe to do so by contacting Collections
Manager, Wayne Eldred, via email: wayne@mattmuseum.org. Please include image(s) and description of the objects(s) in email correspondence.
What we aren’t collecting:
Please don’t include specific and personal medical information. Medical information is protected and private.
Participate here:
Fill out the form here.
What happens to the material that I donate?
All of the material that you donate will be housed, stored, and preserved in the Max R. Traurig Library and Archive. A finding aid to the collection will be created, and in the future, individuals will be able to view and work with the collection. Physical objects will be housed, stored, and preserved in the Museum’s state-of-the-art climate-controlled facility on Main Street. Additionally, when filling out the form, you can also select the option to allow the Mattatuck Museum to put your donated items online via social media, exhibitions, and other means.
Questions? Concerns?
Please contact Stephanie Crawford, Archivist at scrawford@mattmuseum.org.