Calgary’s Glenbow Museum is asking residents to send letters of their experiences amid the COVID-19 pandemic to be displayed as part of the facility’s permanent collection.
On Wednesday, the museum put the call out to the public, asking for letters, postcards, stories and photographs to document the historic time period through their “Dear Glenbow” initiative.
“We’re hoping that people will just tell us anything that they want about life right now,” communications director with the museum, Jenny Conway Fisher, said in an interview with 770 CHQR.
“It’s such a strange experience that we’re all going through at the same time and yet it’s having different impacts on different people. So I think everyone’s story is going to be really individual and different.”
The museum is asking residents to highlight their daily routines and activities, how their daily lives have changed and what they’ve learned during the pandemic within their letters.
All letters received by the museum will be incorporated into Glenbow’s permanent collection, Fisher said.
“The idea of this project is that we didn’t want to collect the letters and the stories and then lock them away in a vault for 50 years. We really want this project to be an active living project,” Fisher said.
“It’s about giving people a project and making them feel like they can contribute and have a positive role to play in transmitting this experience.”
Written letters are encouraged by the museum, but digital submissions, including emails and social media messages will also be accepted.
“We’re definitely hoping people will write us physical letters because that opening of a letter is really incredible and special,” Fisher said.
“But you can also send us an email or you can post a social post.”
Letters will be accepted until July 31. Residents can also use the hashtag #DearGlenbow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to enter their submissions online.