No we need the front line workers to keep our lives going. That said I am considered a first responder. I work with the elder population. They need people to help them exist. Working in this field ...
18th generation American, Sally, Roslindale resident Feb 2, 2021, 5:35PM
I clearly see that the areas of shutdown have done nothing but create disarray and misery. This does not feel like a real pandemic, as I have read about in history. If I were in charge, everything ...
Jane Feb 2, 2021, 3:50PM
I passed by the MHS during a snowstorm on 26 January 2021 and wanted to share the experience with my colleagues via a poem. Presented here, with apologies to Robert Frost: Whose stairs these are I ...
A. Rec Jan 27, 2021, 9:43PM
In 1798, founder of the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) Jeremy Belknap realized that the momentous happenings of his lifetime would be tomorrow’s history. He sat down and wrote to Paul Revere and asked him to recount the night of his famous ride. Revere’s response is how we know what happened.
Now it is your turn. Years from now historians will research the impact of the COVID-19 virus in Massachusetts and across the country. In order to have first-person accounts of daily life during this extraordinary time, the MHS invites you to contribute your experience(s) to our collection.
Whichever way you choose, your account will become part of the Society’s collection and, more importantly, a piece of the historical record that future historians will need to tell the story of these turbulent days.
As a teacher/educator, you can submit these contributions in two ways.
See below for examples from the MHS's collection of the ways people documented their daily lives. Follow them through momentous occasions, disasters, and everyday occurrences.
This collection consists of diaries kept by portrait painter Sarah G. Putnam from the age of 9 until near her death at the age of 61. The diaries document her career as a portrait painter and her extensive travels.
This collection consists of 30 diaries of farmer and conservationist William P. Wharton, kept primarily at his farm (Fiveoaks Farm) in Groton, Mass. This particular page (vol. 29) outlines Wharton's experiences during the Great New England Hurricane of 1938.
Need help? please email collections staff.